Israel blocks some Palestinian Americans from entering the West Bank
Israel is blocking some Palestinian Americans from entering the country from the West Bank, a clear violation of a recent agreement that allows citizens of the United States and Israel to travel to the other country without a visa.
The Departments of Homeland Security and State, which administer the program, said U.S. officials were trying to resolve the problem.
“U.S. government officials are working with the government of Israel to address reports of Americans experiencing difficulties traveling to and flying from Ben-Gurion Airport,” said Erin Heeter, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
The settlement, announced in late September before the war began, was part of a larger effort to improve relations between the two countries. At the time, President Biden was making efforts to broker a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Under the visa waiver program, Israel would lift restrictions on Palestinian Americans and other Americans of Arab or Muslim descent, easing the way for them to travel to and from Palestinian territories.
For decades, Palestinian Americans have faced difficulty traveling to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to see family and friends or to do humanitarian work. They are forced to first travel to Jordan, which shares a border with the territory. They typically fly to and from Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, the capital of Jordan, rather than entering or leaving Tel Aviv.
U.S. officials insisted the deal would change that. But shortly after Israel’s inclusion in the program was announced, Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to an Israeli invasion of Gaza and a wave of violence in the West Bank.
Israel, citing security reasons, has further restricted the movements of Palestinians in the West Bank, whether they hold a US passport or not. Palestinian Americans could not enter or leave Israel at that border.
It was an early test for an agreement that some doubted Israel would uphold.
“Of course, everyone got excited about this new arrangement, which allows us to go through Ben-Gurion because of our citizenship,” said Fidah Mousa, a Palestinian American living in the West Bank.
During a trial period in the summer, more than 100,000 U.S. citizens, including tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans, could travel to Israel without a visa. At the time, Ms. Mousa bought a ticket to fly from Tel Aviv and return to the United States in October to attend her daughter’s wedding.
“Deep down, I didn’t think this would last long,” she said of the equal treatment.
Days after the Oct. 7 attack, Ms. Mousa said her employer, an international nongovernmental organization, sent her updates on Israel’s closure of checkpoints to Palestinian Americans trying to enter from the West Bank.
Inam Mansor, a Palestinian American lawyer living in the West Bank, said an Israeli border official told her on Sunday that the visa privilege for Palestinian Americans was no longer available.
It was exactly the situation some feared.
“Here we are in the middle of an actual crisis — we are being told to go to Amman, to fly out of Queen Alia International Airport,” said Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, an advocacy group. “It’s another example of why Israel doesn’t belong in this program.”
Civil rights groups such as the Arab American Institute expressed concern about Israel’s participation in the visa waiver program. Some Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, also expressed skepticism.
“While he understands the difficult security environment in Israel, all American citizens are assured of reciprocity under the visa waiver program, and he has serious concerns about this development,” said Francesca Amodeo, a spokeswoman for Mr. Van Hollen.
After the Oct. 7 attacks, the Biden administration pushed back the start date of the program to make it easier for Israelis fleeing the war to enter the United States.
Asked about Palestinian Americans who were unable to leave the West Bank for Israel, State Department officials said they had tried to help them get to Jordan overland.
“To expand departure options for U.S. citizens in the West Bank, the Department of State has begun chartering ground transportation for U.S. citizens and their immediate family members from the West Bank to Jordan,” the department said.
In addition, the department arranged charter flights to transport American passengers from Israel from October 13 to 31, even though commercial flights were still operating. Dozens of flights bound for Washington and some European capitals left Tel Aviv largely empty — or in some cases completely empty, a U.S. official said.
Palestinian Americans in the West Bank or Gaza could not reach those flights.
Asked about the lack of passengers, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that flights “always departed at half capacity or less.”
Cogat, a division of Israel’s Defense Ministry that manages aspects of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, cited the outbreak of war to explain why West Bank border crossings were closed to Palestinian residents of the area.
“Nothing has changed regarding Israel’s international border crossings. Palestinians with US citizenship continue to enter Israel on tourist visas,” Cogat said in a statement.
“Once Hamas started the war against Israel, the border crossings from Judea and Samaria into Israel were completely closed – for security reasons,” the organization said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank. “Israel will allow the entry of Palestinians with US passports for tourism purposes through the border crossings in Judea and Samaria at the end of the lockdown, in accordance with the agreement signed between Israel and the US”
Raja Abdulrahim contributed reporting from Jerusalem.