All American citizens, including those in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, will be permitted to enter Israel, the authorities have recently announced.
The decision comes after more than 40 years of the Israeli government pushing to secure visa-free entry for its citizens to the United States, with the latter pushing for the country to provide equal treatment to all American citizens, including Palestinian Americans, who often were not able to enter the country through Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport, VisaGuide.World reports.
“DHS welcomes these steps by Israel toward meeting the Visa Waiver Program requirements. The United States will engage with the Government of Israel on the implementation of its new travel policies. For entry into the Visa Waiver Program, all of the Program’s mandatory requirements must be satisfied,” the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote in a press release, also pointing out they are working closely with the Israeli government to reach these requirements.
This decision is expected to finally make Israeli nationals eligible for the Visa Waiver Program, after many attempts to grant visa-free travel to the US. One requirement that Israel has been struggling to meet has been allowing Palestinian Americans entry, for which 65 senators were urging for more efforts to be made by the Israeli government.
These senators were pushing for Israelis to be exempted from visa requirements by the end of September, while some other groups have been demanding full reciprocity to Israel. In addition to the 65 senators, citizens of Israel have also called on the US government to grant them visa-free entry.
Reports by Israeli nationals that they have been refused a US visa multiple times without explanations have also been made public during this period. Other applicants have also revealed that it is taking too long to find available appointments and called on respective authorities to address the issue.
The local media in Israel has previously reported that the decision to grant (or not) the Palestinian-Americans’ freedom of travel to Israel can be a determining factor for the country to be eligible for visa-free travel to the US.
Eli Cohen, the Israeli Foreign Minister, previously pointed out that a pilot program to keep the candidacy for the program was on track and was expected to be launched in the middle of July, but no more statements on the matter were made.
The pilot program was set to last between 30 and 45 days, during which the US delegations will be monitoring Palestinian-American travel through the Israeli airport and across West Bank checkpoints.