Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Eases Travel Restrictions on Palestinians

The Israeli army has eased travel and other restrictions on Palestinian Christians for the holiday season.

The Israel Defense Forces, in conjunction with the coordinator of government activities in the territories, announced the easing of restrictions on traveling outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Israel through Jan. 20. The move comes following an IDF meeting Tuesday with religious leaders from Bethlehem.

The IDF authorized 500 Christian Palestinians from Gaza to visit Israel and the West Bank to see family and participate in religious services. Christian Palestinians from the West Bank also will be permitted to visit Israel during the holiday season.

Some 400 Christian Palestinians will be permitted to leave Israel for travel abroad via Ben Gurion Airport, and 200 Christians from Arab countries can visit the West Bank.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.