Rima Merriman follows through- Raising Awareness on Serious discrimination

from the Jordan Times

Thousands of Palestinian female worshippers pray Wednesday in front of the Dome of the Rock Mosque at Al Aqsa Mosque compound during Laylat Al Qadr (AP photo by Muhammed Muheisen)

Denial of entry
Rima Merriman The good news that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “wants the Israeli government to explain restrictions on Palestinian-Americans travelling on US passports in Israel and the Palestinian territories” spread like wildfire in the occupied Palestinian territories. Rice has apparently listened to something from the Palestinian side. Maybe she saw the ads that the Palestinian grassroots Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry into the occupied lands had placed in all the local papers during her most recent visit — a photograph of her and President Mahmoud Abbas with the caption “Wish we could be there to help you!”, meaning that Americans, and Palestinian-Americans especially, are being denied entry into the occupied Palestinian territories, and so are also denied the opportunity to play a role in the peace making she was seeking. But elation must be tempered with caution, because the experience of Palestinians with the Israeli government from whom Rice is asking “an explanation” is never straightforward. The Israeli government’s response so far is as follows: “We are aware of this issue, and we are looking into it at senior levels,” an Israeli official said yesterday. “We are waiting to receive additional information from the administration.” It sounds reasonable and measured. It’s as though these officials were talking about a computer glitch: “We are aware of the problem; we are looking into it.” One is being led to believe that it is “an administrative” issue that has nothing to do with the government — some kind of bureaucratic misunderstanding. If the Israeli government really wants to be helpful, it would gather the following specific information from “the administration” at its borders: how many foreign passport holders, including Americans, have been denied entry to the occupied Palestinian territories yesterday? How many since June of 2006? How many since 2000? How many family unification applications is the Israeli administration sitting on? What nationalities are involved? These are important questions, since that’s what journalists and politicians have been asking the grassroots Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry to provide. How many? For various reasons, it has been difficult for the campaign to come by comprehensive figures. In addition to posting an entry denial form on its website (www.righttoenter.ps) and the cases it has documented as a result of word-of-mouth referrals, the campaign is now looking into organising a grassroots Allenby Watch volunteer cadre to be stationed daily on the Jordanian side of the King Hussein Bridge simply to document the daily denials, as people are sent back to Jordan from the Israeli border. The watch would be similar to Machsom Watch, a voluntary group of Israeli women who have been conducting daily observations at military checkpoints to monitor human rights abuses. People, of course, are also being denied entry at Sheikh Hussein border crossing and at Ben Gurion Airport. It would be so much easier if the Israeli government found out such “additional information” from its administration and handed it over to the press and to the US State Department, wouldn’t it? The legitimate Palestinian fear is that the Israeli side would obfuscate the probe that Rice has called for. During her last visit, Rice asked Israel “to ease some travel restrictions on Palestinians and open certain crossings to help people go about their daily duties”. She was referring to the siege of Gaza and restrictions on Palestinian travel, not to the systematic denial of entry of foreign passport holders into the West Bank. The knee-jerk reaction of “security” is not even plausible in the latter case. Israel’s “security” measures, like so many that takes against the Palestinians, are disproportionate and the suffering they entail tremendous. Often, Israeli military action is not motivated by security, but by a desire for brutal collective punishment, as has been evident in Gaza since June 25 when the Israeli soldier was captured. Rice’s probe has not started with a big bang, as evidenced by the following excerpt from the US Department of State press briefing of October 12: Question: One other thing, then. She [Condoleezza Rice at American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP)] made some reference to travel by Palestinian Americans having difficulty I suppose getting to either Israel or the territories. Can you elaborate on that at all? State Department spokesman Sean McCormack: Yeah. There have been some cases, more than a handful, where there have been some difficulties [for] people that previously have been able to freely cross between Israeli areas and Palestinian areas [and] aren’t able to do so. Question: US citizens? McCormack: Yes. Well, they may be… Question: Or whatever. McCormack: Yeah, maybe dual citizens. Regardless, they hold US passports as American citizens, so it doesn’t make a difference. Question: Right. McCormack: And this was brought to the attention of the secretary, and it’s something that she’s looking into and she’s going to raise with Israeli officials. Question: Has she reached any temporary conclusions? Is it some discrimination or is it based on thin suspicions of terrorism? Is it… McCormack: You know, I think… Question: Is it generic bigotry? What is it? McCormack: I’m not going to try to, you know, characterise and broad-brush, Barry. I think that each — obviously, each individual case will be different. But the fact is there’s more than a handful of these cases, and it is something that has got her attention. We’re talking about American citizens here. Question: Passport holders? McCormack: Yeah. Question: Thank you. It’s been clear from the start that the reason behind the visa denial policy about which the Israeli government is now collecting “additional information” from its administration was motivated politically. The policy is meant to put pressure on the Hamas-led government and to punish Palestinians generally, as the majority of foreign passport holders who are denied entry have family connections in the occupied Palestinian territories and they and their families are very, very unhappy. Another end Israel means to achieve through this policy is to isolate the West Bank in various ways: there are, thus, few internationals in the West Bank to witnesses Israeli aggressions, and little or no international expertise to develop education, business, health or government. If all this would come out in Rice’s probe, perhaps the US would pressure Israel to ease these restrictions not just for its nationals but also for all internationals (and especially Palestinian expatriate nationals) who wish to visit or reside in the occupied territories for legitimate reasons. Thursday, October 19, 2006

Jordan Times Editorial: Serious discrimination
While it is certainly welcome news that the US State Department has protested to Israel over the treatment of US citizens in Israel, the question remains why it took so long. Of course, as any astute reader will have gathered, the US citizens being targeted in Israel are those of ethnic Palestinian or other Arab background. State Department officials told senior Israeli diplomats in Washington on Wednesday that they find it “hard to understand” Israel’s discriminating against American citizens based on their ethnic background. As well they might. The only problem is that a serious policy of discrimination has been in place since at least April, when US and other foreign citizens of Palestinian or other Arab ethnic background, resident or working in the occupied Palestinian territories, started being denied entry. The result has been heartbreaking. In many cases, families have been split apart, careers jeopardised and houses lost. The policy has been all the more damaging as it, almost by definition, targeted what remains of the Palestinian middle class and with it, any scrap of hope for the Palestinian economy. Some cases, such as Palestinian American businessman Sam Bahour, have been reasonably well-documented. Most, however, have not. Among them is a Palestinian American businessman who was born in Ramallah, moved to the US for a number of years, before returning, settling and raising a family. Having been denied a Palestinian Authority passport — passports that were only issued with Israeli permission — the man nevertheless stayed for 12 years, married, had seven children, made a decent living importing, of all things, American goods, only to be told earlier this year, after what was supposed to have been a short business trip to Jordan, that he was no longer welcome. As a result, he has had to start a new career in Jordan. His family, with all the children still in school, remains in Ramallah. For him, the past six months, but especially the Holy Month of Ramadan, were lonely times. There are countless such cases. Indeed, it would be useful for the Jordanian government to check its records to see how many people were turned back at either the Sheikh Hussein or King Hussein bridges in the past six months. We are sure it would make interesting reading and provide US officials with even greater cause to complain, however belatedly. Thursday, October 19, 2006

Letters to the editor
Raising awareness Many thanks for the editorial “Serious Discrimination” (The Jordan Times, October 19, 2006), decrying Israel’s policy of denying visas to people wishing to enter the occupied Palestinian territories and who, ordinarily, by virtue of reciprocal agreements between Israel and their countries, should be able to get visas at the border, unless there is a security check against them or some other legitimate reason on Israel’s part. Many of those trying to enter actually reside in the occupied territories, but have no way of achieving such residency except through a tourist visa, which they would be renewing periodically by leaving and reentering the occupied territories. Now these people are being systematically denied entry at all ports of entry to Israel — the only way to get into the occupied territories. As it is mentioned in the editorial, the hardest hit among this group are spouses and family members of Palestinian ID holders. Many people are now separated from their families, work and property, because they have been denied entry. Before the second uprising in 2000, applying for family reunification through the Israeli government, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, was on the basis of a strict quota. At times the process was non-existent. For example, there was a backlog of 50,000 such applications in 2000. Now there are more than 120,000 such applications, according to Israeli human rights organisations. Israel is refusing to process these applications. Notable is that most of these applications are for spouses or family members holding Jordanian citizenships. Since 2000, these people have also been denied visas by the Israeli consulate and are unable even to visit their families in the occupied territories, as they wait futilely for their residency permits. Rima Merriman, Ramallah Friday-Saturday, October 20-21, 2006 The Jordan Times welcomes letters and contributions from its readers on any issue they wish to tackle. Letters intended for publication should contain the writer's full name and preferably address as well. Names can be withheld upon request but only under special circumstances. Letters are subject to editing and abridging.