Israel wants to allow its citizens to enter the United States without a visa. The government is now allowing Americans to enter through its international airport. This also applies to Palestinians with dual citizenship.
Israel allows all US citizens, including dual Palestinians, to enter through its international airport. National Security Adviser Zachi Hanegbi said the rule will go into effect today.
Palestinians were not explicitly mentioned in the Israeli statement. All it said was that any American, including those with dual nationality, “American residents of Judea and Samaria” – the biblical term for the West Bank – and American residents of the Gaza Strip would be allowed entry.
USA wants to decide on admission to visa program
The background to the decision is the government’s desire to allow Israeli citizens to enter the USA without a visa, as people from 40 other countries are already able to do. The new rule will strengthen Israel-US ties and “brings us closer to the US government’s terms for the visa waiver program,” Hanegbi said.
So far, the plan has stalled because of US demands that Israel treat all US citizens equally, including Palestinians with US passports, who are often denied entry through Ben Gurion Airport. Instead, travelers with destinations in the West Bank or Gaza Strip must enter via neighboring Jordan or Egypt. Other Americans of Arab descent or Muslim faith report suffering similar restrictions.
A US State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said the US is monitoring not only implementation of the new guidelines but also other aspects of the visa-waiver program. A decision will then be made on September 30 as to whether Israel will be included in the program.