The visa deal could have a major impact on Palestinian Americans, whom Israel must now treat like other American citizens when they enter the country.
AIN YABROOD, West Bank — Moeen al-Kateeb’s mother lives 21 miles from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, about 45 minutes in light traffic. He has visited her dozens of times from his home in the United States but has never gone through that airport.Instead, he flies to neighboring Jordan to reach the occupied West Bank, adding hundreds of dollars and a day to the trip. Unlike most U.S. citizens, Kateeb and thousands of Palestinian Americans have been barred for decades from flying into Ben Gurion.
The deal, fulfilling a longtime Israeli goal of easing travel to the United States, will benefit only a sliver of Palestinians: dual citizens who are U.S. passport holders and are also registered by Israel as having family connections to Jerusalem, the West Bank or Gaza. During a weeks-long trial of the new program, tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans have landed at Ben Gurion, according to U.S. officials. In a first, they were given the same B2 tourist visa as other arriving Americans, allowing them not only to visit family in the West Bank but to travel around Israel for up to 90 days.Sami Almalfouh, a Gaza-born electrical engineer from California, flew in Saturday simply to test the new system.
“What was different about me than the guy from Utah who was behind me?” Almalfouh wondered. “They didn’t say.”
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