Israel has announced that it would allow all American citizens, including dual-nationality Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza, to enter the country through its international airport as part of an agreement to qualify for a visa waiver programme with the US.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday the US "will monitor not just their implementation of these policies, but their compliance with these policies and compliance with other facets of the Visa Waiver Program" and decide on September 30 whether to admit Israel.
US officials assessing the trial will also focus on whether Palestinian Americans or other Arab Americans are subjected to selective grilling by Israeli security personnel.
Israel has pushed for years to secure visa-free entry for its citizens to the US, a privilege enjoyed by 40 countries, mostly in Europe and Asia.
But that request has been thwarted over the US government's demand that the country provide equal treatment at its borders to all American citizens, including Palestinian Americans, who are often barred from entering the country through Israel's Ben-Gurion airport.
Instead, those travelling to the occupied West Bank or Gaza must enter via neighbouring Jordan or Egypt.
Other Americans of Arab origin or Muslim faith say they've suffered similar restrictions, as well as US citizens with political views Israel finds objectionable.
Israel doesn't mention Palestinians in statement
Israel's national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the regulation would take effect on Thursday and will strengthen ties between the countries and "brings us closer to full qualification for the terms of the US government to the visa waiver program."
The Israeli statement avoided mention of the word Palestinians, but said the protocol would allow entry to "every single American, including Americans with dual nationality, American residents of Judea and Samaria" — the biblical terms for the occupied West Bank — "and American residents of the Gaza Strip."
One source said that, while Israel would bar anyone deemed a security threat, it did not plan as a matter of policy to restrict entry to any American "BDS-ers" — a reference to pro-Palestine calls to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel.
The Arab American Institute Foundation puts the number of Americans of Palestinian descent at between 122,500 and 220,000.
A US official estimated that, of that number, between 45,000 and 60,000 were residents of the West Bank.
An Israeli official gave lower figures, saying that out of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, about 15,000 to 20,000 were West Bank residents.
