Palestinian travelers face new restrictions at Arab borders

Date: 17 / 02 / 2009  Time:  16:13
Cairo – Ma’an –

Palestinians traveling abroad have recently been subjected to alarming scrutiny by border officials in the Arab world.

Several days ago, the Egyptian government began asking Palestinians interested in visiting Egypt through its Cairo airport to present evidence of a return flight home, despite that Egypt had usually permitted Palestinians to enter without attaining a visa.

But since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s embassy has begun demanding more and more on the part of Palestinian travelers, who used to travel via Rafah with relative ease.

New instructions for Palestinians arriving in Cairo indicate that travelers should show a copy of their itinerary, including a return flight, and regardless of age. Travelers have also been asked to prove their residency status from the country of origin, such as the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait.

A Ma’an reporter made the journey from Amman to Cairo to test out the new policies, finding that a large number of Palestinians were stopped by Egyptian officials at the airport before being allowed to pass.

Airport security sources told Ma’an under the condition of anonymity that the procedures had come by request of Palestinians, under the pretext that they do not want their citizens to reside permanently in Egypt.

But while travelers from the Gulf states typically possess return documents given their residency statuses, Palestinians in Jordan do not require visas, so Cairo officials are now demanding documents from them that do not exist.

Oddly, the story did not end at the airport, as Ma’an’s reporter was similarly asked by hotel staff to hand over his passport at a hotel in Cairo, where other Palestinian guests were asked to do the same. A hotel worker explained that new instructions “require us to keep your passports through the night, and to give them back during the day; this is all under a security order.”

In other Arab countries, including Lebanon, Palestinians are not permitted to apply for visas on their own, but must be invited by a resident already in the country. Similar entry requirements bar Palestinians from entering Qatar, Syria and Kuwait except through special security coordination.

Despite that visas are typically simple to obtain for most Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates demands that any Palestinian traveling there provide evidence of a work visa in their passport—or evidence of employment in Palestine.

Unfortunately, the majority of Palestinians cannot prove their work status as turmoil in their homeland often prevents such basic consular services, leaving many Palestinians traveling abroad facing complicated processes for entering foreign countries.