WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime has delayed the implementation of a set of recently revised restrictions for foreigners entering the occupied West Bank after a widespread backlash against the rules, which initially included stipulations that foreigners notify the occupying regime’s authorities within 30 days of starting a relationship with a Palestinian resident.
COGAT, the regime’s military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, has amended some of the restrictions, which were set to be implemented on Monday, including the removal of the 30-day rule, in a new document published on Sunday, but many other rules remain.
The original text had also said that foreign spouses of Palestinians would initially be only granted three or six-month permits, with most then required to leave the West Bank for six months before obtaining a new permit.
The rules would also have forced foreigners married to Palestinians to leave for half a year after 27 months of marriage for a “cooling off” period.
The requirement to remain outside the West Bank for six months does not appear in the latest draft. However, many of the changes in the 90-page document released appeared to be largely cosmetic, and none of the rules applies to people visiting the occupied territories or the more than 130 illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The regime had recently come under sharp criticism for the document, which was initially published without much fanfare in February.
COGAT has not commented on the document.
Rules regulating the entry of foreign academics and students to the occupied West Bank are still included in the updated document, although restrictions on the number of foreign students and teachers have been dropped.
HaMoked, an Al-Quds -based human rights organization criticized the new rules, saying that the Zionist regime will “prevent thousands of families from living together for blatantly political reasons”.
“The Israeli military’s procedure on the entry of foreigners to the West Bank violates Israel’s international legal obligations and HaMoked will continue its legal challenge of it,” the group tweeted.