Perspective: Jordan’s Attachment to Old Rules for Israeli Entry Permits Burdens and Deters Jerusalemites from Traveling

This article was first published by Daoud Kuttab on his personal substack. It is republished here in a lightly edited version with permission of the author.

On Friday afternoon, December 26, 2025, Jordanian authorities at the King Hussein Bridge turned back a Palestinian Jerusalemite family consisting of a mother and her two children, claiming they had left the Israeli side without the required Israeli permit, despite possessing multiple-entry visas to Jordan issued by the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and documents guaranteeing their right, as residents of Jerusalem, to return to their city.

Two possible explanations might be offered for this unjust decision, but neither holds up against the facts on the ground.

The first explanation relates to Jordan’s refusal to recognize the King Hussein Bridge as an international border with Israel. While this is true in principle, its application is arbitrary and lacks a consistent basis. Foreigners who are not residents of Jerusalem, for example, are allowed to enter through this crossing with their foreign passports as long as they have a prior visa for Jordan, while Jerusalemites are not granted the same treatment.

This leads us to the second explanation, which is also inconsistent.

Since 1967, Jordan has adopted the principle of allowing Palestinians residing in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, to travel to Jordan, and from there to the rest of the world, based on their possession of Jordanian passports. Cooperation was also established with the then mayor of Gaza, Rashad al-Shawa, to allow Palestinians living in Gaza to travel using a document issued by the municipality known as the “Shawa Permit.”

At the same time, they were required by the Israeli authorities to possess a paper travel permit that included a statement confirming the holder’s right to return within three years of its issuance.

Following the Palestinian-Israeli Declaration of Principles as part of the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which was permitted to issue Palestinian passports, the Israeli permit requirement for PA ID holders  was lifted, allowing them to travel using only their Palestinian passports. However, the permit remained in place for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem [who largely hold Israeli permanent-resident IDs], ostensibly as the only guarantee against ethnic-cleansing policies, or what was known as “administrative transfer.”

This argument, however, was neither consistent nor principled. Palestinian Jerusalemites now had multiple travel routes, including Ben Gurion Airport (Lod Airport), the Sheikh Hussein Bridge, and the Wadi Araba Crossing, with the King Hussein Bridge remaining the closest. At all these crossings, Jerusalemites travel using an Israeli travel document (laissez-passer), a document similar to a passport, which states the holder’s nationality as “Jordanian,” is valid for five years, and includes a special stamp granting the right of return. The same right was also extended to Jerusalemites holding foreign nationalities and residency permits.

In reality, the director of the bridge possesses broad powers and grants exceptions, which indicates that it’s not a matter of “national security” or fixed policy, but rather a flexible approach. However, in the case of this particular family, the restrictions imposed on a Palestinian Jerusalemite woman and her two children were arbitrarily severe, leaving the children heartbroken as they looked forward to visiting relatives and enjoying the holiday.

The escalating Israeli rhetoric regarding the Judaization of Jerusalem may have contributed to this stricter policy, but regular travelers were unaware that the decision had become nonnegotiable. Many expect that the exceptions and interventions we’ve witnessed for years will continue.

It seems the Jordanian Ministry of Interior has sent strict orders, and the traveler hoped that, as had been the case for some in the past, they would be allowed to cross again, especially since it was a holiday season when the children were eager to visit their Jordanian grandmother.

A Palestinian Jerusalemite holding a valid Jordanian passport and a document guaranteeing their return should not expect to be prevented from traveling to or through Jordan, especially during sensitive times such as Friday afternoons when the bridge is closed for half the day, in addition to its complete closure on Saturdays. Nor do they expect a sudden tightening of restrictions without prior notice. There has been no public announcement indicating that the previously flexible policy has now become permanent.

Besides the absence of any political or security rationale, the Jordanian decision imposes a significant economic burden on Jerusalemites, forcing them to travel via Ben Gurion Airport. The permit costs NIS 230 per trip for each Jerusalemite, while the “laissez-passer” costs NIS 75. The paper permit—which is easily lost—is valid for three years, while the “laissez-passer” or return stamp is valid for five years.

This means that a family wishing to visit relatives in Jordan or travel through Queen Alia International Airport will bear a substantial and unjustified financial burden. One year, I conducted a simple economic analysis and concluded that requiring Jerusalemites to obtain only a paper permit generates thousands of dinars daily for the Israeli treasury. This applies, for example, to Palestinian Waqf Department employees, whom Jordan knows will return the following day. Yet, they are still forced to travel exclusively with a permit, despite possessing the necessary travel documents. What is the logic in enriching the occupation’s coffers at the expense of Palestinian Jerusalemites?

Fifty-eight years have passed since the Israeli occupation, and many things have changed, including the Oslo Accords and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty. However, Jordan’s insistence on forcing Jerusalemite travelers to use only a highly expensive paper permit, without the option of using other documents guaranteeing their return, persists.

Over the years, I discussed this issue with several senior officials in the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf and the Jordanian missions in Ramallah and Tel Aviv, as well as other high-ranking officials in Jordan. Everyone agrees there is a problem that has been inherited from one administration to another, and no one knows how to deal with it without political fallout. Regardless, the insistence on the permit has become a taboo subject that no one dares approach for fear of accusations including being accused of encouraging emigration.

The demand is not to abolish the permit, but rather to grant Jerusalemites the right to choose their document of travel, as long as they enter Jordan using a Jordanian passport and possess proof of their right of return.

What is required is for Jordan to reconsider this long-standing issue, which causes significant harm to Palestinian Jerusalemites, imposes a heavy financial burden on them, and damages Jordanian tourism, without providing any national or economic benefit. Once a decision is taken, it should be enforced consistently upon all without exception, and at the same time announced publicly so that families don’t find themselves being turned off from entering Jordan to spend the holidays with their loved ones.