Israel Bans Young Palestinians From Entering the Country for ‘Peace-building’ Meetups

The Israeli institution that oversees the West Bank is prohibiting Palestinians under the age of 22 from entering Israel to participate in organized peace-building activities. The new policy is expected to hamper the efforts of organizations which, among other goals, seek to foster encounters between Palestinian and Israeli youth.

A new directive by the Civil Administration states that entry to Israel will be limited to married individuals over the age of 22 and singles over 27, despite the fact that the programs run by some of the organizations are intended for teens and children.

Until now, Palestinians were allowed to enter at any age, provided there was no specific security reason to ban them. The organizations were informed of the new policy by text message several weeks ago, and the new procedure has yet to be posted on the Administration’s website.

At a meeting this week between representatives of the organizations and Civil Administration officials, the latter said that the reason for the change in policy is that some organizations used the entry permits for other means, such as to allow Palestinians to work in Israel or to visit the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound.

Representatives of the administration said that the organizations may request special entry permits for young activists despite the new criteria, and such requests may be granted, but they noted that the policy is not expected to change.

Under the permit policy, the administration allocates entry permits to dozens of Israeli organizations for Palestinians to participate in meetings and workshops with Israeli peace activists. The administration had ruled that 500 entry permits would be allocated for that purpose, to be divided among the organizations.

“This is a very significant change,” says Dr. Yael Broudo-Bahat, co-director of Women Wage Peace. “It directly harms our activities. Over the past year, we’ve been working with a Palestinian women’s movement called Women of the Sun, and they routinely attend meetings with us.”

Among the Palestinian activists are women in their 20s. “This is the future generation of peace. The policy is problematic, and sends a harsh message to Palestinian peace organizations and activists,” she adds.

Broudo-Bahat says that her organization discovered that the policy had changed when she tried to obtain entry permits for a meeting to be held in late February, and the requests for the teens and young women were rejected. Later on, they managed to exempt these activists and arrange for entry permits for them, but the new policy remained in effect.

Doubi Schwartz, who runs a network of coexistence groups on behalf of umbrella organization Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), told Haaretz that they need the permits to hold the organizations’ regular activities, which seek to facilitate meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.

“The policy was changed now of all times, when there’s more need than ever to expand our joint Israeli-Palestinian activities. We’re very concerned that the new policy will compromise our ability to operate,” he said.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said in response: “Israeli organization permits are designed to allow the activity of organizations who work to promote peace and joint activities. Insofar as the permits are long-term, they will be approved subject to the criteria. It should be noted that exceptional cases are regularly examined by the relevant professionals and receive the proper response.”