Palestinian tourist companies in Ramallah are taking advantage of a gap in the border fence to organize hundreds of tours to Israel for Palestinians.
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What began as visits to Israeli beaches has expanded into tours to popular tourist destinations with massive advertising on social media and companies openly announcing trips are taking place due to a breach in the border fence in the Modi'in Illit or Samaria area.
An Israel Hayom investigation revealed that the "tourists" are brought to the fence in a Palestinian bus, cross the breach on foot and get on an Israeli bus waiting for them on the other side. Other times, an Israeli bus picks them up at a pre-agreed destination, drops them off at the gap, crosses a checkpoint legally, and picks the visitors up again on the other side.
The trips increased since November. For reasons unknown, authorities – who were aware of the illegal actions – did not prevent the occurrences.
Destinations include the Hermon Mountain, Rosh Hanikra, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, Jaffa, Haifa, Lod, and Tiberias.
"It is disturbing to see how the defense establishment turns a blind eye to security matters and allows thousands of Palestinians to enter Israel through breaches in the fence," Matan Peleg, CEO of right-wing NGO Im Tirtzu, said.
"Demographically it is also a disaster, as there is no one to check who enters and who leaves. The security implications are disastrous: the travelers sing intifada songs and raise their children as part of nationalist Palestinian heritage. The defense establishment must stop the celebration of the nakba trips which explicitly call for the destruction of Israel from within."
The so-called "nakba," or catastrophe, refers to the exodus of Palestinian refugees from Israel in 1948.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement, "IDF and Border Police officers are deployed in the area in accordance with the assessment of the situation and use various means and advanced capabilities against anyone who is identified as a danger, a terrorist, or causing damage to the security fence."
It said in the past year, Border Police officers stopped hundreds of groups and confiscated about 120 buses carrying illegal visitors to Israel.
"More than a hundred indictments have also been filed against bus drivers and tour organizers. In addition, the drivers and the organizers of the transportation are fined heavily and some are detained until the end of the proceedings," it said.
Meanwhile, the Jewish National Fund resumed planting trees on Wednesday morning in the Negev desert region after Tuesday's violent riots and a coalition crisis.
According to media reports, the tree-planting is being undertaken amid heavy security following the strong reaction from local Bedouins who for years have opposed the planting of trees.
Tuesday saw rioters torch cars, block trains and clash with police, lightly wounding two officers, according to media reports. In Jerusalem, Islamist Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas threatened to withhold his faction's four votes with the coalition until the issue is resolved.
The controversy is focused on the matter of "unrecognized villages" and what the Bedouins see as an attempt to remove them from their homes to make way for development and as an encroachment on their traditional lifestyle.
JNF and many Israeli leaders say that the tree-planting carries on the ecological mission from the founding of the state to "make the desert bloom" by planting millions of trees.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called for a "regroup" of the coalition over the issue and to halt the violence immediately. The unrest also drew condemnation from the political opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin has vowed to carry on with the tree-planting.
"We will continue with the planting as needed, today is the last day of this round," Elkin told Kan news.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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