On October 27 twenty House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing concern over discriminatory restrictions on United States citizens traveling to the West Bank.
The letter, which was led by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), also cautioned against the Biden administration allowing Israeli passports holders join the United States’ Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Under the VWP the citizens of some countries are allowed to stay in the U.S. for up to ninety days without a visa. Israel has been lobbying to join the program for years.
“It is incumbent upon Israel as a key U.S. ally and beneficiary of significant aid to treat U.S. citizens with dignity and respect regardless of race, religion and ethnicity, and it is especially pertinent at this time because Israel is currently being evaluated for entry into the United States Visa Waiver Program,” reads the letter.
The letter was signed by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Marie Newman (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Chuy Garcia (D-IL), Ron Kind (D-WI), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), John Yarmuth (D-KY), James McGovern (D-MA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). André Carson (D-IN), and Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC).
“Israel has imposed discriminatory restrictions on people traveling to the Palestinian West Bank, a move that impacts families in my district, especially Palestinian Americans who will find it harder to see family,” tweeted Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL). “This is wrong and must end. Proud to join my colleagues on this.”
Israel’s new travel regulations were officially instituted two weeks ago. They were developed by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the IDF unit that controls Palestinian civilian affairs. The new regulations codify draconian restrictions on the ability of foreigners (including Palestinians living in other countries) to enter the West Bank.
In September, Israel revised a number of the new rules in response to widespread backlash against the most severe restrictions. For instance, foreigners had to report romantic relationships with Palestinian ID holders to Israel’s government. While some of these constraints were modified the spirit of the rules have been maintained. Individuals still have to report relationships with Palestinian ID holders if they’re seeking to renew or extend a visa.
“The group that will be most harmed are Palestinian families where one spouse is a foreign national,” Hamoked Executive Director Jessica Montell told Mondoweiss after the rules were implemented. “There are tens of thousands of families like this in the West Bank, and under the new procedure they will quite simply no longer be able to live together in the West Bank.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said he had “concerns” about the new restrictions at the time, but said he fully expected Israel to “make necessary adjustments during the [two year] pilot period to ensure transparency, as well as the fair and equal treatment of all U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals traveling to the West Bank.”
This isn’t the first letter that the Biden administration has received from progressive congress members on the subject. In May a letter led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and signed by twelve House Democrats was sent to Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona about the new rules’ potential impact on academic freedom. “We remain concerned that the government of Israel maintains entry policies that discriminate against U.S. citizens based on their ethnicity, national origin, religion, and/or political viewpoint,” it reads. “We are aware, as is shared on the State Department’s website, that these policies disproportionately impact Palestinian Americans who are frequently subjected to humiliating and obtrusive inspection and questioning by Israeli authorities and are frequently denied the opportunity of visiting their ancestral homeland.”
To say that this letter will fall on deaf ears is probably the understatement of the century! The Biden Administration has proven time and time again that they aren’t at all interested in engaging Israel on ANYTHING. Not even the blatant and brazen murder of American citizens, journalists, pensioners, and children.
“Israel’s Ambassador to the US”, Tom Nides effectively said in his statement that he has no intention of even discussing this issue with Israel and basically said that he has every intention to kick the can down the road for another two years. Which is when he’ll almost certainly no longer be Ambassador. Proving yet again that the interests of America and the American Citizens he is supposed to represent are at the very bottom of his list of priorities, while the agenda and interest of the Israeli government come first and foremost.
At this point we can’t even accuse him of “dual loyalty”, because thus far he has shown and spoken loyalty and servitude to only ONE government’s strategic and policy interests and that is the foreign state of Israel.
No AOC or Ilhan Omar among the signers? Fascinating…
Perhaps climate change would be less severe if politicians (of all stripes) would STOP emitting so much hot air. The same blah, blah, blahs year in and year out and NOTHING changes.
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For the record:
In April 2002, the 22 countries comprising the Arab League presented Israel with a unanimously agreed peace plan known as the Beirut Arab Summit Initiative (28 March 2002.) It calls for a full peace agreement between all members of the Arab League (which includes the Palestinian leadership) & Israel, i.e., full diplomatic recognition, normalization of relations, exchange of ambassadors & open borders in exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal to the borders of 4 June 1967 in accordance with international law & various UNSC resolutions. (The Initiative also recognizes that minor, equal & mutually agreed land swaps may be advisable.)
Acknowledging Israel’s demographic concerns, the Beirut Arab Summit Initiative does not insist on the return of all Palestinian refugees of the 1948 conflict & their descendants to their homes in Israel. Instead, in accordance with policy first enunciated by President Arafat prior to & during the 2000 Camp David Summit, Article II of Paragraph 2 “calls upon Israel to affirm” that it agrees to pursue the “[a]chievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.” (http://www.ruemsy.org.ru/d2005/en20020328_91.htm)
The Beirut Arab Summit Initiative was also “formally accepted by the [then] ‘supreme leader’ of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. [Furthermore, Sheikh] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made it clear that Hezbollah would not disrupt such an agreement if it is accepted by Palestinians & Hamas repeatedly indicated its willingness to negotiate in these terms.” (“On the US-Israeli Invasion of Lebanon” by Professor Noam Chomsky, Znet, August 23, 2006)
Notably, the Beirut Arab Summit Initiative was also adopted by the Organization of Islamic States which includes Iran. (Akiva Eldar, “What will happen if Israel ‘defeats’ Obama?” – Ha’aretz, 1 June 2009) (cont’d)
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“…in May 2003, a conference of the member states’ foreign ministers [of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation] in Tehran ‘reaffirmed its support to, and adoption of, the Arab peace initiative for resolving the issue of Palestine and the Middle-East.’ Indeed, an information leaflet about the peace initiative posted on the Arab League’s official website shows the flags of all countries that endorse the proposal, including those of Libya, Syria — and Iran.” (“Why is Israel so afraid of the Arab Peace Initiative?, by Raphael Ahren, The Times of Israel, 18 June 2013)
As we all know, the entity known as Israel ignored the Arab League’s offer of peace.