The US has addressed the growing issue of Palestinian Americans being
barred from entering the territories. Palestinian Americans are finding that having an American passport, despite such close ties between Israel and America, makes no difference when trying to gain entry into the Palestinian territories. After receiving many complaints
from US citizens, particularly Palestinian-Americans, the US has
demanded that Israel explain itself.
State Department officials called Israel’s restrictions ethnic discrimination and said they found it “hard to understand.”
Israel said it would address US complaints right away. The only explanation so far has been from a diplomatic source in Jerusalem, who said that the individuals experiencing problems at the border have been blacklisted by Israeli intelligence officials as security threats.
However, when looking into individual cases, such as that of Sam Bahour, a well-known and well-respected Palestinian-American business man who was given one month to collect his family, abandon his businesses and leave the West Bank after living there for 13 years, one finds there may be more to this issue than that of security.
Sourced from Haaretz
