Description

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Israel has agreed to allow Palestinian children born abroad to enter the West Bank without special permission from Israel as long as they are under 14, an interior ministry official said Monday.

The ministry’s undersecretary Hasan Ilwi told Ma’an that after negotiations, Israel agreed to allow children under 14 born abroad to enter the West Bank without special permission and to obtain a birth certificate from the Palestinian Authority.

He said that prior to the agreement, Palestinian children above 5 years who were born abroad were not allowed to enter the West Bank without a special permit from the Israeli authorities.

Ilwi pointed out that 5-10,000 Palestinian children born abroad are entered in the PA’s population register every year. “Since 1995, we have registered about 100,000 children born abroad,” Ilwi said.

Ilwi also said that Palestinian holders of Jordanian passports would be able to renew their passports at the Embassy of Jordan in Ramallah.

“Jordan has agreed initially and the new procedure will take effect by the beginning of next year,” Ilwi said, adding that the move was meant to help Palestinian holders of Israeli passports and save them time and effort.

Ilwi added that Jordan also agreed recently to make more facilitations for Palestinian passengers travelling from the West Bank to Jordan.