Arab Countries Said to Be Dropping Ban on Visitors Carrying Israeli Visa Stamp

Arab countries, hit by a drastic decline in tourism since the June, 1967 Six-Day War, are trying to reverse the trend by dropping their ban on the admission of tourists who have an Israeli visa stamp in their passports, according to reports reaching here. But it was unclear which Arab countries were easing up on the ban that has been in effect since Israel was established 21 years ago.

Christian Science Monitor correspondent Francis Ofner reported from Jerusalem that he was told by Israel’s Minister for Tourism and Development, Moshe Kol, that Egypt has dropped the ban on tourists with Israeli visas but that Lebanon and Jordan have not. Mr. Kol said, according to Mr. Ofner, that on three occasions he had offered Jordan and Lebanon arrangements for joint Middle East tours to cover all three countries, but received no replies, not even a rejection.

But the Detroit Jewish News city editor, Charlotte Dubin, said that Lebanon and Jordan and possibly Syria had lifted the ban and were trying to encourage tourists to cross the borders from Israel. Miss Dubin said she had received information from Souheil Freijy, Lebanon’s Consul General, that there was no longer a ban on tourists with Israeli visas and that such groups as the American Jewish Congress could visit Lebanon if they so desired. She said that, according to Mr. Freijy, the same policy was adopted by Jordan but it was not yet widely known. He said that so far it applied mainly to group travel, “but I’m hoping it will eventually extend to individual travel,” Miss Dubin reported him as saying. She said reports of similar action by Syria could not be confirmed because that country has no diplomatic representatives in the U.S.

The Lebanese economy is based to a large extent on tourism. Jordan earned large amounts of foreign currency from tourists before the Six-Day War when it controlled the Holy Places in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But most tourists now are not interested in visiting either country unless they can also visit Israel, according to Mr. Ofner’s report. The same situation applies to Egypt where tourists who wanted to go to Israel had to fly first to Cyprus or some other country. Some British tourists were issued two passports, one for Egypt and one for Israel, while Americans visiting both countries were given their Israeli visa stamps on a separate sheet of paper. “Recently more and more tourists were reported to have refused to put up with this. It was said they would rather forego their Egyptian visit,” Mr. Ofner reported.