Israel Will Review Its Border Control Practices

Stunned by the intensity of U.S. criticism over the treatment here of visiting black Americans and Palestinian-Americans, the Israeli government has scheduled a high-level interdepartmental meeting on Sunday to review border control practices, Israeli officials said Friday.

One official complained about “exaggeration” of the problem, which State Department spokesman Charles Redman described at a press briefing Thursday as “discriminatory and arbitrary treatment of some American citizens.” Israeli leaders were said to be particularly upset over the role of the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Thomas R. Pickering, in highlighting the situation.

Slap in the Face

Pickering sent a personal letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres complaining that black Americans and Palestinian-Americans had been harassed and in some cases refused entry to Israel by airport and border authorities in recent weeks, according to informed sources. Others have been forced to post large cash bonds or forced to give up their passports as a condition of entry.

American officials here and in Washington confirmed that the State Department has threatened to issue a travel advisory warning Americans about Israeli entry procedures if the situation is not corrected within 30 days. Such a move might discourage visitors to Israel and, more significantly, would be an unprecedented diplomatic slap in the face by Washington.

“Israeli authorities have told us they took our concerns seriously,” Redman told reporters Friday.

He mentioned the upcoming Israeli meeting to address the issue and added, “So we hope that is a sign of movement for what both sides would consider a successful resolution of this problem.”

Here in Jerusalem, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said he had “nothing to say” about reports of official pique over the Redman briefing and Pickering’s letter. The spokesman said Israel’s policy is to prevent any discrimination, and he criticized what he termed “exaggeration in the coverage of all of this affair.”

He defended Israel’s right to refuse entry to individuals for security reasons or because of evidence that they intend to illegally overstay the time allowed on their tourist visas.

Avi Pazner, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, telephoned a Times reporter to specifically deny reports of hard feelings against either the American government or Pickering.

Israeli officials and Palestinian-American sources agree that hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of American passport-holders of Palestinian origin live illegally on the Israeli-occupied West Bank of the Jordan River. Many of them have been refused permission to move back permanently in order to rejoin family members who have West Bank resident status.

Black American tourists are sometimes suspected of trying to join the so-called “Black Hebrew” group, numbering about 1,500 refugees from America’s ghettos. The Black Hebrews, led by former Chicago bus driver Ben-Ami Carter, have renounced their U.S. citizenship and claim ancestral ties to the biblical Israelites.

Considered Dangerous

Israeli officials consider Carter and his followers a dangerous cult with no legal grounds to be in Israel. But they have been reluctant to simply expel them en masse for fear of appearing racist and antagonizing American blacks.

U.S. officials counter that thousands of American Jews also overstay their visas here, but that they are never subjected to the same kind of treatment as Palestinian and black Americans.

Problems with Palestinian-American tourists arose last summer as well, and the U.S. government thought then that it had binding assurances, through the Israeli Foreign Ministry, that what it called discriminatory treatment would end. However, according to officials familiar with the issue, when the same problems began recurring this spring, the Israeli Interior Ministry, which is responsible for visas and passports, denied making such a pledge.

The issue comes up in the late spring and summer because it is then, after American schools recess for the summer, that Palestinian-Americans flock to the West Bank to vacation with their relatives.

Abdeen Jabara, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, estimated during a visit here earlier this month that about 5,000 Palestinian-Americans travel here each summer. He said the association had information on at least 30 individuals who had been turned back by Israeli officials at the airport in recent weeks and another 50 whose passports had been confiscated.

Many Post Bonds

“Countless” more had been forced to post bonds of up to several thousand dollars, he said.

When the problems resurfaced this spring despite last year’s assurances, frustrated U.S.officials in Israel proposed issuing the travel advisory, according to informed sources.

By raising the issue of black Americans at the same time, Washington has struck a particularly sensitive chord here. In part because of its complex ties with the white regime in South Africa, Israel’s image among American blacks, including black legislators, has suffered. That has been particularly frustrating for American Jewish leaders, supporters of Israel, who have seen the black Americans with whom they marched during civil rights protests a generation ago turn increasingly cool toward them.

State Department spokesman Redman said Thursday that Washington has reports of 75 problem cases this summer, 40 of them involving Arab-Americans and 35 of them black Americans.

A senior Israeli official said Friday that representatives of the prime minister’s office and the Foreign, Interior, and Police ministries will meet Sunday to “look into the situation.” The inter-departmental group will “consider what are the rules and the technicalities involved which have created a problem, and to see, if there is a problem . . . what should be done to prevent some further incident.”

Peak Period Over

A representative in Israel for a major American Jewish organization said he hopes that the government will at least act to “sensitize airport officials” to the problem.

A diplomatic source noted that the peak period for arrivals of both black Americans and Palestinian-Americans has passed and thus, the number of problems is expected to decline whether the Israeli government takes action or not.

Black American tourists here are predominantly Christian, and most Christian travelers come here in the spring and early summer, the diplomatic source explained. Similarly, Palestinian-Americans typically come in May or June for the summer.