Saudi Arabia has banned Palestinians holding temporary Jordanian passports from entering the country, effectively barring hundreds of thousands of people from undertaking the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages, heads of tourist companies in Palestine and Jordan have confirmed to Middle East Eye.
Several travel agents spoken to by MEE said they had been told at the start of this month that they should not apply for visas for anyone seeking to travel on a temporary Jordanian passport, although no official announcement has been made.
The measure directly affects almost 634,000 Palestinians living in Jordan and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, who have no access to any other form of travel document allowing them to go to Saudi Arabia, where millions of Muslims travel each year on pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The Jordanian temporary passport is a document valid for five years issued to Palestinians who live in occupied East Jerusalem by the Civil Status and Passports Department in Amman.
Source: MEE
