Palestinian-Americans barred from entering Palestine

The ever-tightening noose:

Israel bars Palestinian Americans for first time since 1967

By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent

For the first time since 1967, Israel is preventing the entry of Palestinians with foreign citizenship, most of them Americans.

Most of those refused entry are arriving from abroad, but have lived and worked for years in the West Bank.

. . .

The Interior Ministry and Civil Administration made no formal announcement about a policy change, leaving returnees to discover the situation when they reach the border crossings.

By various estimates, the ban has so far affected several thousand American and European nationals, whom Israel has kept from returning to their homes and jobs, or from visiting their families in the West Bank. This could potentially impact many more thousands who live in the territories - including university instructors and researchers, employees working in various vital development programs and business owners - as well as thousands of foreign citizens who pay annual visits to relatives there. The policy also applies to foreigners who are not Palestinian but are married to Palestinians, and to visiting academics.

Read the whole thing, and don't miss the comments for the debate...

Update: Five Arab and Jewish members of a Belgian NGO, Artists Against the Wall, were refused entry yesterday.

Comments

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Don't have time to read a hundred comments, but the crux of the problem seems to be: no comity.

The ruling regime of Gaza does not recognize the State of Israel, and therefore, this vitiates official government documents of the State.of Israel.

I believe that this is not so unique. I recall vaguely that there have been other cases in history in which one government refuses to recognize another government.

You may have to consult an expert in Internat'l Law about this.