The United States has revoked the visas of three Fulbright scholars from Gaza who received them in the face of Israeli resistance.

Visas for the three Hamas Authority scholars, as well as a fourth who was planning to go to the US under a different program, were revoked last week after "additional information" was received, according to State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.

One of the four students was already in Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C. when the decision was reached, forcing him to board another plane back to Jordan without ever having left Dulles Airport...

...The three were part of an original group of seven who were blocked by the Israeli government from leaving Gaza to travel to Jerusalem for interviews with US officials in May. At the time Israel cited security concerns.

"We decided that we needed to take a closer and harder look at them," said Gallegos, adding that the revocation "does not preclude the applicants from reapplying for visas in the future."

The State Department spokesman would not discuss the nature of the information that had prompted US officials to revoke the PA scholars' visas after having gone to so much trouble to issue them...

...According to a source quoted by the Associated Press, the information that led to the revocation related to the same security problems cited by Israel as reasons to deny the students security clearance to leave Gaza.

Many PA residents from the region are granted such security clearance for medical and other purposes. The Erez Crossing is used daily by those who enter and leave Gaza with the assent of the Israeli government.