[This is a form of cultural ethnic cleansing: break up the ties of family and friends and further isolate Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, making their lives even more miserable in the hopes that they will leave -Editor]
State Department says Israeli authorities may question US Palestinians
on arrival in Jewish state, require them to obtain PA travel
documents. US Arab groups: Bush administration saying in effect that
Arab Americans are second-class citizens
Reuters
Israeli authorities may question Palestinian Americans on arrival in
Israel and require them to obtain a Palestinian Authority travel
documents, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
The comments drew quick criticism from an Arab American group that
argued the Bush administration was acquiescing in Israel’s treatment
of Palestinian Americans as second-class US citizens.
“American citizens whom Israeli authorities judge may be of
Palestinian origin are likely to face additional, and often time
consuming, questioning by immigration and border authorities,”
the State Department said in a “travel warning” to US citizens.
“If judged to have, or judged to have a claim to, residency status in
the West Bank or Gaza, such American citizens may be required by the
Government of Israel to use a Palestinian Authority travel document to
transit Israel to enter the West Bank or Gaza,” it added.
“In addition, American citizens considered to have or to be eligible
for a Palestinian Authority ID who entered Israel via Ben-Gurion
Airport might be required to depart via the Allenby Bridge to Jordan,”
it said, advising such people to ask Israeli authorities where they
are required to depart.
‘A pattern of discrimination’
James Zogby, the president of the Washington-based Arab American
Institute, said the State Department had accurately diagnosed the
problem for Palestinian Americans traveling to Israel but had not done
enough correct it.
“What they are in effect saying is that Arab Americans are
second-class citizens,” Zogby said in a telephone interview.
“The State Department is allowing Israel to define how they view the
American citizenship of persons of Arab, and in particular,
Palestinian Arab, descent. That is not the right of the Government of
Israel. It is our government that defines what American citizenship
is.”
The State Department said it “seeks equal treatment for all American
citizens regardless of national origin or ethnicity” and urged
Americans who encounter difficulties to contact the US embassy in Tel
Aviv or the consulate in Jerusalem.
The Arab American Institute on Monday released a letter it sent
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging her to ensure Israel treats
Americans of Palestinian descent fairly.
“The treatment of American citizens traveling to (the West Bank and
Gaza Strip) frequently involves burdensome bureaucratic requirements,
if not outright harassment and humiliation, and indicates a pattern of
discrimination and practices intended to deter visitors,” the letter
said.