The Ramallah-based leading economic website Aliqtisadi on Sunday reported an increase of between 50% and 70% in requests from Arab residents of Judea and Samaria for travel visas to Europe or the US.
Iyad Al-Kurdi, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Shechem, who also manages a tourism company that deals with issuing visas, told Aliqtisadi the majority of the visas are tourist visas for 25-40-year-old applicants. Al-Kurdi explained that although these are tourist visas, limited to a stay of not more than three months, many PA Arabs apply for such a visa to seek work permits once they arrive, request asylum, or manage to stay illegally “to live outside of Palestine.”
Al-Kurdi noted that the increase in the submission of visa applications began approximately six months after the beginning of the war, due to the economic situation in the PA, the ban on PA Arab labor entering Israel, the consequent rise in unemployment, and the political situation in the PA.
In late January, members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, including Ministers and MKs, participated in a conference advocating for the resettlement of the Gaza Strip by Israelis and the voluntary migration of the Arab population from Judea and Samaria.
The conference titled “Victory of Israel Conference: Settlement Brings Security” was held in Jerusalem, showcasing the participation of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The event attracted around 1,000 attendees, which included 11 cabinet ministers and 15 members of the Knesset, a significant number of whom are affiliated with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Ben-Gvir said: “We must encourage voluntary migration. Let them leave. Part of correcting the mistake of the sin of the preconception that brought us to October 7 is to return home to Gush Katif and to northern Samaria. We have to return home because that is the Torah, that is morality, that is historic justice, that is logic and that is the right thing.”
Smotrich said: “I took a beating in the eighth grade when we opposed the terrible folly of the Oslo accords. We yelled until we were hoarse: ‘Don’t give them guns,’ and they didn’t listen to us.” He then continued, “I had the privilege of fighting against the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. I paid for that with my own liberty.”
In June, Minister Ben Gvir renewed his demand for the resettlement of the Gaza Strip and the voluntary migration of Arabs from there.
“We are committed to returning to Gaza and northern Samaria. We are committed to settling there,” he said in an online post. “The matter is not limited to Gush Katif,” Ben-Gvir stated, adding, “We have to remind ourselves of one thing: It is not enough to build only settlements.”
