Israeli restrictions on foreign travel into occupied West Bank take effect despite criticisms
Palestinian passport
Yumna Patel and Michael Arria report in Mondoweiss:
A draconian set of rules and restrictions on the entry of foreigners into the occupied West Bank are set to go into effect today, despite months of condemnations by rights groups and legal efforts to stop the restrictions from being enforced.
Entitled the “Procedure for entry and residence of foreigners in the Judea and Samaria area,” the 90-pages of restrictions engineered by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), seeks to severely restrict the ability of foreigners, including those of Palestinian origin living abroad, to enter the West Bank for the purpose of business, education, humanitarian work, and even visiting family.
The new regulations were published earlier this year to widespread condemnation, and were initially set to go into effect back in May, but were postponed several times due to legal push back.
“Israeli authorities have provided no explanation for the new procedure, which clearly steps far beyond their authority as the occupying power to take measures for their own security or for the welfare of the Palestinian population,” Jessica Montell, the Executive Director at Hamoked, the Israeli human rights group that has been challenging the policy in Israeli courts, said in a statement.
Much of the pushback has surrounded some of the more preposterous aspects of the regulations, like a stipulation that foreigners who entered into a relationship with a Palestinian would have to declare it to the Israeli government within 30 days of said relationship’s start.
Back in September, following heavy backlash from rights groups, as well as European and US officials, COGAT released a revised version of the document which walked back on some of the more widely-criticized rules, including the aforementioned timeline for reporting romantic relationships with Palestinians.
But the essence of the regulations, and many of the original restrictions, remained in place.