U.S. warns Palestinian Americans of delays in Israel

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"Israeli authorities may question Palestinian Americans on arrival in Israel and require them to obtain a Palestinian Authority travel documents, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

The comments drew quick criticism from an Arab American group that argued the Bush administration was acquiescing in Israel's treatment of Palestinian Americans as second-class U.S. citizens.

"American citizens whom Israeli authorities judge may be of Palestinian origin are likely to face additional, and often time consuming, questioning by immigration and border authorities," the State Department said in a "travel warning" to U.S. citizens.

"If judged to have, or judged to have a claim to, residency status in the West Bank or Gaza, such American citizens may be required by the Government of Israel to use a Palestinian Authority travel document to transit Israel to enter the West Bank or Gaza," it added.

"In addition, American citizens considered to have or to be eligible for a Palestinian Authority ID who entered Israel via Ben Gurion Airport might be required to depart via the Allenby Bridge to Jordan," it said, advising such people to ask Israeli authorities where they are required to depart.

James Zogby, the president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, said the State Department had accurately diagnosed the problem for Palestinian Americans traveling to Israel but had not done enough correct it.

"What they are in effect saying is that Arab Americans are second-class citizens," Zogby said in a telephone interview."

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1. U.S. State Department to Israel: "An American Citizen Is an American Citizen" (James Zogby)

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"For thirty years now, I have been demanding that my government, in Washington, protect and defend the rights of its citizens of Arab descent when they travel to Israel and the Palestinian lands occupied since 1967.

I never felt that this was an unreasonable request to make, nor did I feel that it should have been difficult to fulfill. It was not a sensitive or complicated policy matter, like the "thorny" issues of settlements, land confiscations, collective punishments or other violations of international law. Even these the U.S. has, at times, criticized, though been loathe to act more decisively to stop.

What I have asked of the last five administrations was, quite simply, to do what any government is required to do; and that is, to protect and defend its own citizens and, in this case, require Israel to live up to its treaty obligations.

The U.S. passport, the prized possession of any U.S. traveler, says quite clearly on the opening page: "The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection."

There is also the 1951 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, signed by the U.S. and Israel, in which Israel agrees that U.S. citizens traveling there be permitted "to travel therein freely, to reside at places of their choice; to enjoy liberty of conscience...and to bury their dead according to their customs." The Treaty also prohibits "unlawful molestations of every kind," and guarantees U.S. citizens "the most constant protection and security."

As many Arab Americans and most especially those of Palestinian descent will testify, this treaty has been "honored more in the breach than in the observance." Over the many years that I have worked on this issue, we have recorded countless cases where Arab Americans (even those with U.S. diplomatic passports) were detained at entry and exit, treated harshly and in a humiliating manner, and in some cases held for hours and subjected to long and often humiliating interrogation. Palestinian Americans, even those born in the U.S., have been forced to surrender their U.S. passports. Israel requires Palestinian Americans, even those born in the U.S., to secure a Palestinian travel document upon entry and exit. Others have been denied entry when attempting to visit their families; while still others have been denied the opportunity to remain with their families, bury their dead in ancestral plots, or conduct normal business on family-owned properties."

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