The warning against travel to the Palestinian Authority may also be partly canceled.
The US will soon cancel its official warning against traveling to Israel, and perhaps also against traveling to the Palestinian Authority, Washington sources close to Middle East policy believe. The sources said that the significant drop in terrorist attacks within the Green Line and in the West Bank was the decisive factor in a possible cancellation of the warning. Another motive is the desire of the Bush administration to express its satisfaction at the measures taken by Israel and the Palestinians to implement the disengagement plan.
The significance of the warning does not lie in the deterring of potential US visitors, who are affected more by terrorism and media reports about it, even though the warning does reduce the number of visitors. Most of the economic damage to Israel is in the problems that the warning creates for business travelers, because insurance companies are unwilling to insure travelers to regions included in US State Department warnings.
Israel Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon told “Globes” yesterday that he hoped that the warning would be canceled this time. “I think condition for its cancellation have been created, although, in my opinion, these conditions have existed for a long time,” Ayalon stated. Israel asked new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the cancellation during her visit to Jerusalem. At the same time, the embassy also contacted the head of the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, and proposed a renewal of the bilateral affairs committee. Ayalon will raise the matter again in talks with senior US administration officials in the coming days.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 13, 2005