Washington, Aug 8 (EFE).- The United States expects Israel to facilitate the movement of Palestinian-American citizens from Gaza to Israel in the coming weeks, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
The Israeli government has assured the US that it will take steps to allow US citizens residing in Gaza to be included in the reciprocity agreement, as part of the US visa waiver program, Miller said.
“They have assured us that they will make the changes (…) we believe that this is important, since they are mandatory,” the spokesperson stressed.
As part of the agreement, Israel will allow Palestinians who have US nationality and who have passed a security filter to enter its territory from Gaza and travel from Ben Gurion International Airport, various international media reported on Monday.
As reported by the Israeli portal Times of Israel, Israel’s idea is to implement these changes as of September 15, two weeks before the deadline on which the US will decide whether to withdraw the visa application for Israeli citizens or No.
On July 19, the US and Israel signed the reciprocity agreement, which paves the way for Israelis to access the visa waiver program.
The document was signed during the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Washington.
Israel often prohibits Palestinian-Americans from reaching Ben Gurion and forces those who want to go to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to enter through Jordan and Egypt, respectively.
The US is Israel’s main ally, but relations have cooled sharply as a result of the policies of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most right-wing in the history of the Jewish state.
Together with his ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist partners, Netanyahu is promoting a disputed judicial reform that seeks to take away the independence of Justice, as well as a policy of settler extension in the occupied West Bank that makes a possible two-State solution to the conflict with the Palestinians impossible. EFE
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