Posted on 08/02/23
| News Source: i24
The trial period comes amid unusually intense strains between Washington and Jerusalem over wider Palestinian policies and the controversial judicial overhaul
Over 2,000 Palestinian Americans have traveled into or through Israel since the Jewish state eased conditions for them at border crossings, as part of efforts to achieve a visa waiver deal with the United States, an Israeli official said Wednesday.
Israel has reciprocally loosened access for Palestinians with American passports, through its main airport and at the West Bank’s boundary, ahead of a September 30 deadline to qualify its citizens for visa-free admission to the United States.
The trial period came amid unusually intense strains between Washington and Jerusalem, over wider Palestinian policies and the Israeli government’s controversial overhaul of the country’s judiciary.
In the first week of the six-week pilot, the Israeli official told Reuters that 1,100 Palestinian Americans came through its “international crossings,” an apparent reference to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv and the Jordanian border. A similar amount entered Israel from the West Bank.
"In total more, than 2,000 Palestinian Americans in the first seven days," the unidentified official said, citing the first formal tabulation of entry data.
To obtain the visa waiver deal, Israel – which imposes tight controls on movements by Palestinians and which makes it near impossible to travel through Ben Gurion Airport – must show that it treats Palestinian Americans the same as it treats all U.S. citizens, who have long complained of being subject to excessive scrutiny, and at times denial of entry.