More than 2,000 Palestinian Authority-American dual citizens have traveled into or through Israel since it eased conditions for them at border crossings as part of a bid to achieve a visa waiver deal with the United States, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing an Israeli official.
Ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to qualify its citizens for visa-free admission to the United States, Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog and US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides last month signed a memorandum of understanding to allow all American citizens into Israel, this includes any American citizens who are also citizens of the Palestinian Authority.
The US embassy has declined comment on the trial period.
An Israeli official said that in the first week of the six-week pilot, 1,100 Palestinian Arabs with American citizenship had come through its "international crossings", i.e., Ben Gurion Airport and the Jordanian border. A similar amount entered Israel from Judea and Samaria.
"In total more than 2,000 Palestinian Americans in the first seven days," the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters, citing the first formal tabulation of entry data.
The new arrangements mean additional travel options for tens of thousands of PA-American citizens who live in Judea and Samaria.