Children play in the West Bank village of Deir Ballut. (Lisa Nessan)

An undeclared Israeli policy is currently in effect. This policy denies entry to American citizens and other foreign passport-holders at the Israeli-controlled international border crossings into the occupied Palestinian territories. Typically, the foreign passport-holders live with their Palestinian spouses and families, are Palestinian expatriates or are non-Jews working in the occupied territories. While any Jew in the world can automatically gain Israeli citizenship, others, mainly Palestinians with roots going back centuries, are denied entry. This separates families, causes hardships, and impedes development. Here are the relevant facts:

• Before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Zionist forces systematically expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians residing in what is now Israel from their homes. 150,000 became internally displaced in what became Israel, while most ended up in the West Bank, Gaza or neighboring Arab countries. In 1967, 400,000 more Palestinians became refugees - half of them for the second time - when Israel militarily occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Currently, there are an estimated 7 million Palestinian refugees amongst a worldwide Palestinian population of 9.7 million.

• All refugees have the internationally recognized right to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced, to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties or receive compensation and support for voluntary resettlement. Israel has consistently rejected the implementation of these rights.

• In 1950 and 1952, Israel passed the Law of Return and the Law of Citizenship, respectively. Combined, they declare the State of Israel not the home of all its citizens but of worldwide Jewry, and allow for any Jew to automatically be granted Israeli citizenship.

• Since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza began in 1967, Israel has maintained complete control over the population registry and the issuing of I.D. cards to Palestinians in the occupied territories. To be considered a legal resident of the occupied territories, Palestinians must have an Israeli-issued I.D. card.

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• Israel declined to issue I.D. cards to Palestinians who lived in the West Bank and Gaza but who were not present when the occupation began. This prevented those who happened to be out of the country from to returning to their homes.

• More than 60,000 Palestinians in the occupied territories therefore do not enjoy legal status. These Palestinians can be detained and deported if caught at Israeli checkpoints, tremendously impacting their freedom of movement.

• It is not uncommon for Palestinians in the occupied territories to marry other Palestinians with citizenship from another country. In order for the spouse to permanently reside in the occupied territories, the couple must apply to Israel for family unification. Since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000, Palestinians have submitted more than 120,000 requests for family unification. Israel has not processed these requests. Before 2000, these unification requests were approved on a restricted and intermittent basis at best.

• Therefore Palestinian spouses and other Palestinian expatriates, including American citizens, must depart and renew their tourist visas every three months in order to remain in the occupied territories.

• Israel oversees the granting of visas to enter the occupied territories. This control continues to apply to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the Gaza Strip even after Israel's disengagement.

• Recently, Israel has, without prior notice, denied re-entry to Palestinians who have for years been legally residing in the occupied territories, some with their spouses and children. Many are now stranded outside the country, separated from their families, work and property. Others are afraid to depart for fear of facing the same fate and so remain in their homes in the occupied territories in violation of their visas.

This fact sheet incorporates materials developed by the Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-Entry.