Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Baluardo di democrazia 024

Il più grande baluardo democratico in medio oriente si rivela un pochino
selettivo...
Israel bars Palestinian Americans for first time since 1967
By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent
For the first time since 1967, Israel is preventing the entry of
Palestinians with foreign citizenship, most of them Americans.
Most of those refused entry are arriving from abroad, but have lived and
worked for years in the West Bank.
The Interior Ministry and Civil Administration made no formal announcement
about a policy change, leaving returnees to discover the situation when
they reach the border crossings.
By various estimates, the ban has so far affected several thousand
American and European nationals, whom Israel has kept from returning to
their homes and jobs, or from visiting their families in the West Bank.
This could potentially impact many more thousands who live in the
territories - including university instructors and researchers, employees
working in various vital development programs and business owners - as
well as thousands of foreign citizens who pay annual visits to relatives
there. The policy also applies to foreigners who are not Palestinian but
are married to Palestinians, and to visiting academics.
The first group to suffer are Palestinians born in the territories, whose
residency Israel revoked after 1967 while they were working or studying
abroad. Some eventually married residents of the territories, or returned
to live with aging parents and siblings. Israel rejected their
applications for "family reunification" (i.e., requests to have their
residency restored). However, until recently Israel permitted them to
continue living in the territories on tourist visas, renewable every three
months by exiting and reentering the country. In some cases the State also
granted them work permits.
Citizens of Arab states (whether or not of Palestinian origin) have been
barred from entering Israel since 2000. A handful were allowed in as
"exceptional humanitarian cases" - mostly when a first-degree relative is
dying or has died - but even this practice was suspended in April.
One of the demands that Israel has posed in specific cases which attorney
Leah Tsemel represented before the High Court of Justice, is that
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.
An Israeli Interior Ministry spokesperson told Haaretz that this is not a
new policy, but merely a "procedural updating." But the High Court
petitions department at the State Prosecutor's Office, which has been
addressing the phenomenon with regard to several specific petitions, wrote
Tsemel on May 2, 2006 that a policy on entry of foreign nationals to the
West Bank would be formulated only "at the start of next week." Since then
Tsemel has not learned whether such a policy was indeed drafted.
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. Several people
who were refused entry and spoke with U.S. representatives said that the
consulate and embassy are well aware of the apparently new policy.
An e-mail from the department of U.S. Citizen Services in Jerusalem to a
U.S. citizen who had inquired about entering the West Bank stated that the
consul general had met with a representative from the Israeli Interior
Ministry regarding the government's entry policies: "The Israeli official
conceded that 90-day visa entry cards, which were once routinely granted
in the past, especially to U.S. citizens, are now more difficult to
obtain, specifically for Palestinian American citizens traveling to the
West Bank and for U.S. nationals affiliated with humanitarian
organizations. Both the U.S. Embassy and the Consulate in Jerusalem are
pursuing the issue."
Israel's Civil Administration stated in response that "the entry to the
region of foreigners who are not residents of the territories takes place
by means of visit permits issued by the Palestinian Authority and approved
by the Israeli side," because coordination stopped after September 2000,
and entry was permitted in exceptional humanitarian cases - a practice
that was also suspended after the Hamas government was formed. Today, the
statement continued, cases "involving special humanitarian need" are being
considered.
The Civil Administration confirmed that the applications must be conveyed
by a low-ranking official who is unaffiliated with Hamas. The Interior
Ministry and Civil Administration declined to comment on the fact that for
40 years, Palestinian citizens of Western countries did not required a
"visitation permit."
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 with Hamas. The ministry refuses to comply with this condition. 
.......///// ............../////////////////
Tb

pochino selettivo...
...come e' doveroso che sia quando al governo dei Territori Occupati vi
e' una organizzazione terroristica che compie atti di aggressione contro
Israele.
-Stefano