Denied Entry Update

While the Israeli war machine expands its reckless adventures from the Gaza Strip into Lebanon, leaving in its wake death and destruction to the civilian population of countries, the more subtle and heinous racist policy of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population in the Palestinian territories continues unchecked.

In an article by Amira Haas and published in the July 10^th issue of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz the magnitude of this racist policy crime is beginning to come to light. Three important points standout and should be addressed:

1. “…the ban has so far affected several thousand American and European nationals whom Israel has kept from returning to their homes and jobs and from visiting their families in the West Bank.” We believe that the truly affected numbers run into the tens of thousands since the overall impact goes beyond just the single denied entry individual.
   
2. “…applications for visitation permits be authorized by a low-ranking official from the Palestinian Interior Ministry, who is not affiliated with Hamas. The ministry refuses to comply with this condition. Now it turns out that this policy has been extended to U.S. and European citizens.” We believe that it is the responsibility of the Palestinian Interior Ministry to issue visiting permits regardless of political affiliation, since the Palestinian government was democratically elected under International auspices. Such a step, no matter how small it may seem, is a crucial building block in establishing Palestinian sovereignty. Furthermore, since the destination of all those Palestinian foreign nationals who are being denied entry is the Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza) the Palestinians must have the sole right in issuing visitation permits.
3. “The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv told Haaretz that no Israeli official informed them of a change in entry policy, and said that the United States cannot intervene in sovereign decisions of another country.” As U.S. citizens we view this parroted and biased policy with dismay, amazement and abandonment by our government. We as U.S. citizens have no interest what so ever in visiting the “sovereign” state of Israel. As we stated time and time again we are only interested in visiting the Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza) where Israel enjoys no sovereignty at all.

It was refreshing to read Amira Haas’s article in that it touched on some of the issues in depth and we hope that other journalists can also address this issue in a substantive format.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Israel+Bars+palestinian+Americans&itemNo=736349