Israeli authorities deny Jordanian priest re-entry into West Bank

Published: 2007-09-20

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- A Jordanian Catholic priest who works at a West Bank parish was denied entry into Israel en route from Jordan to the Palestinian territories. Father Faris Khaleifat of Annunciation Church, a Melkite Catholic parish in Ramallah, was returning to his parish when Israeli authorities at the Al Sheik Hussein Bridge crossing canceled his multiple-entry visa without explanation Sept. 14. According to a statement released to the press Sept. 19 by the Campaign for the Right of Entry/Re-entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a week earlier Father Khaleifat, who holds Jordanian and Vatican passports, had traveled to Jordan for several days and had returned without incident. "For the past six years, I have been traveling regularly between the West Bank and Jordan on church affairs without any problems whatsoever," Father Khaleifat said in the statement. It said the priest was among the thousands of foreign passport holders who have been denied entry by Israeli authorities over the past several years.

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