Gaza City: For the first time in years, Israel has announced that it will provide temporary visitor permits to residents of the Gaza Strip during the Eid al-Adha festival.
The decision would allow 400 Palestinians to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while 500 others would be allowed to visit first-class relatives in the West Bank and Israel.
The Israeli government’s coordinator of activities in the Palestinian Territories, Ghassan Alien, announced on Facebook that 400 visitor permits would be issued to Jerusalem for men over the age of 55 and women over the age of 50.
Their journeys will take them in shuttle buses from Erez Crossing to Al-Aqsa. Then they would return to Gaza the same day.
Approval of the permit, Allian said, came “after assessing the security situation” from Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
They also announced the provision of comprehensive permissions for residents of the West Bank, including family trips to Israel without specifying the number of permits, 200 permits for travel to the city of Eilat, as well as 500 Palestinians to the Ben Gurion Hawaii in Tel Aviv. Permits to travel to and from the airport are included.
Working hours will be extended at some crossings between the West Bank and Israel. Crossings with Jordan will also be included in the expansion.
According to analysts, this step was taken as part of Israel’s steps to reduce tension in the Gaza Strip and maintain peace in the areas bordering Gaza.
Israel announced an increase in the quota of permits for Palestinians to work in the country from 10,000 to 12,000, despite rumors of an increase to 30,000 several months ago.
Palestinian columnist Mustafa Ibrahim said the move was an effort to keep the peace and that the permits “do not change the reality of the Gaza Strip.”
Ibrahim told Arab News that there would be no change in the Gaza Strip without permits for at least 50,000 Palestinians to work in Israel. “Israel forgets that the solution to the crisis in the Gaza Strip should be political, not human,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority’s Department of Civil Affairs, which submits permit applications to Israel, announced that it was closing its permit lines several hours after Israel’s decision due to an increase in applicants.
“Due to the large number of citizens who have requested to pray and visit relatives in Al-Aqsa, and the limited number of permission granted by the Israeli side, we announce the closure of the counter for receiving applications ,” it said.
In previous years, Israel had allowed veterans living in Gaza to visit al-Aqsa, but had halted visits due to what Israel described as a lack of security due to the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Israel refuses to allow Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip to visit their relatives in the West Bank, except in cases of marriage, death and occasionally visiting patients of first-degree relatives.
Israel has put a tight siege on Gaza since Hamas – which it considers a hostile entity – took control of the region in 2007. It allows only humanitarian passage of patients and imposes severe restrictions on the import of goods.
Imad Khalil, 56, was among the early birds who submitted an application to pray at al-Aqsa in hopes that he could visit Islam’s third holiest site for the first time in nearly 25 years.
But Najat Muhammad was unable to submit her application to visit her family in the West Bank, because by the time it was her turn, the counter was closed to receive requests. He hasn’t seen his loved ones in eight years.
“Israel did not allow me to visit my mother and brothers in the city of Tulkarm. My father died eight years ago, and since then I have been trying to get a permit, but to no avail, and now I have failed to apply for a permit again,” she told Arab News .