Israeli bid for US visa waiver hangs on Palestinian-American access test

But progress has been hindered because of restrictions on entry to Israel for Palestinian Americans from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Washington expects Israel to announce policy changes later on Wednesday that would "ensure equal treatment for all U.S. citizen travellers without regard to national origin, religion or ethnicity", State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

Israel's bid to join the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) hinges on a month-long trial due to start on Thursday, when Israeli authorities will offer unfettered passage to U.S. citizens of Palestinian origin who are West Bank residents, officials and diplomatic sources said. Israel has long sought access to the VWP, which would mean its citizens would not need to secure a visa before travel to the United States. But progress has been hindered because of restrictions on entry to Israel for Palestinian Americans from the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Washington expects Israel to announce policy changes later on Wednesday that would "ensure equal treatment for all U.S. citizen travellers without regard to national origin, religion or ethnicity", State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. "Our understanding is that this policy will apply to U.S. citizens, including Palestinian Americans on the Palestinian population registry and that will begin a process in which we will monitor not just their implementation of these policies but their compliance of these policies and compliance with other facets of the Visa Waiver Program," Miller said.

The U.S. government would make a decision on whether Israel should be admitted to the VWP by Sept. 30, Miller added. Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Herzog, would sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Homeland Security Department in the U.S. capital on Wednesday, setting terms for Israel's possible entry into the VWP, an Israeli official said.

Although it has not been advertised beforehand, Israeli and U.S. diplomatic sources said the trial would start on Thursday. If it proceeds smoothly, then Israeli citizens would benefit from the VWP as of October, they said. A U.S. State Department and Homeland Security Department delegation was due to observe operations during the trial, with visits to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv and to crossings between the West Bank and Israel, sources said.

EASE OF TRAVEL Eight sources spoke to Reuters ahead of Miller's comments about the trial on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Two of them said the trial would last one month.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said last month that the trial, which he called a "pilot" programme, was planned for mid-July. He did not elaborate. As part of the trial, the sources said Palestinian Americans from the West Bank would be able to fly in and out of Ben Gurion Airport. Until now they have generally had to fly via neighbouring Jordan, cross into the West Bank by land and usually faced restrictions if they then wanted to enter Israel.

They would also be able to begin using new online Israeli forms to apply for entry to Israel at West Bank crossing points as U.S. tourists, said the sources. U.S. ties with Israel, one of Washington's closest allies, have been strained over policies towards the Palestinians of Netanyahu's hard-right government and its plan to overhaul the judiciary, which critics see as anti-democratic.

The VWP issue was raised when Biden hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the White House on Tuesday, a source briefed on the meeting said. "They reviewed the progress being made and it was expected the process would soon be completed," said the source, who declined to be identified by name or nationality. U.S. officials assessing the trial will also focus on whether Palestinian Americans or other Arab Americans are subjected to selective grilling by Israeli security personnel.

One source said that, while Israel would bar anyone deemed a security threat, it did not plan as a matter of policy to restrict entry to any American "BDS-ers" - a reference to pro-Palestinian calls to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel. The Arab American Institute Foundation puts the number of Americans of Palestinian descent at between 122,500 and 220,000. A U.S. official estimated that, of that number, between 45,000 and 60,000 were residents of the West Bank.

An Israeli official gave lower figures, saying that out of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, about 15,000 to 20,000 were West Bank residents. (Writing by Dan Williams; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Simon Lewis in Washington; Editing by Edmund Blair and Alex Richardson)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)