- Title: Israel to include Gaza Americans in U.S. visa waiver pilot next month
- Date: 7th August 2023
- Summary: BEIT HANOUN, GAZA (AUGUST 7, 2023) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE VIEW OF PEOPLE AT BEIT HANOUN (EREZ) CROSSING GAZA CITY, GAZA (AUGUST 7, 2023) (REUTERS) SOUVENIR WITH PAINTED PALESTINIAN FLAG READING (Arabic): "WE ARE RETURNING, MY COUNTRY." VIRGINIA-BASED PALESTINIAN AMERICAN FROM GAZA, HANI AL-MADHOUN, LOOKING AT BLACK AND WHITE KEFFIYEH AT SHOP BLACK AND WHITE KEFFIYEH VARIOUS OF MADHOUN OBSERVING KEYCHAINS AND ROSARY IN SHOP (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN AMERICAN FROM GAZA, HANI ALMADHOUN, SAYING: "Though we are always proud Americans, we feel a lot prouder today that the US Administration is looking forward to our needs. We are super excited to be Palestinians and fully Americans that the Israeli government will be treating us, who hold the U.S. passport an equal treatment. We look forward to visiting with family without having to plan ahead for days and pay a lot of money, now things are excited, we look forward to September 15th when this law becomes a reality and we are able to visit our loved ones without much headache." SOUVENIR WITH PAINTED PALESTINIAN FLAG READING (Arabic): "WE ARE RETURNING, MY COUNTRY." MADHOUN SEEN FROM SHOP WINDOW VARIOUS OF MADHOUN AND MAN IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN AMERICAN FROM GAZA, HANI ALMADHOUN, SAYING: "The visa waiver program is especially important for American citizens who have a Gaza ID like myself, that means now I can fly into an airport that's 40 minutes away, whereas right now I have to fly into a third country, take an airport, take a bus, take a train, take a ferry, and then that will take two days. Right now, with the new law I will fly into this airport here 40 minutes away, I get home, I see my family it will make things definitely easier and a lot more realistic for people to be with family." PEOPLE AT STREET VARIOUS OF VEHICLES PASSING BY
- Embargoed: 21st August 2023 13:38
- Keywords: Gaza Americans Israel Palestinians U.S Visa program
- Location: BEIT HANOUN AND GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: BEIT HANOUN AND GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Palestinian Occupied Territory
- Topics: Middle East,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001283707082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Israel plans to ease travel for Palestinian Americans from the blockaded Gaza Strip next month as part of preparations for Israelis to be able to enter the United States without visas, an Israeli official said on Monday (August 7).
Hani Almadhoun, a Virginia-based Palestinian American who has family in Gaza, welcomed the news and said he and friends planned to fly into Tel Aviv on September 15 to test the measures.
As a condition for its accession to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), Israel has since July 20 loosened access through its borders, and in and out of the occupied West Bank, for Palestinian Americans in what the allies deem a pilot period.
Gaza, whose governing Islamist Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, has so far not been included. That has stirred protests by Palestinian Americans and calls from Washington for a change in practice.
Gil Bringer, Israel's VWP project manager, put the number of Palestinian Americans living in Gaza at between 100 and 130 and said that, as part of the pilot, they can travel by special shuttle bus to the West Bank, cross into Jordan and continue from there to other foreign destinations on family visits.
By September 15, those of them who satisfy Israel's security criteria will be able to enter it on "B2" tourist visas and fly out of its main Ben Gurion Airport, Bringer told Reuters.
(Production: Arafat Barbakh, Fadi Shana,Mohammed Salem ) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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