US adds five Arab and African countries to travel ban list as right-wing politicians intensify Islamophobic rhetoric.United States President Donald Trump has added five countries to the list of nations whose citizens are banned from entering the US, including Palestine and Syria.The White House announced the expansion of the ban on Tuesday, as it intensifies its crackdown on immigration.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listTuesday’s order imposed a travel ban on six new countries – Palestine, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria – in addition to the 12 initially made public in June.The decree did not refer to Palestine, which Washington does not recognise as a state, by name or even as the occupied Palestinian territory.Instead, it describes the Palestine category as “Palestinian Authority Documents” and refers to Palestinians as “individuals attempting to travel on PA-issued or endorsed travel documents”.The decision comes weeks after Trump declared a “permanent pause” on migration from what he called “all Third World Countries” in response to the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC.“Several US-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered American citizens. Also, the recent war in these areas likely resulted in compromised vetting and screening abilities,” the White House said.“In light of these factors, and considering the weak or nonexistent control exercised over these areas by the PA, individuals attempting to travel on PA-issued or endorsed travel documents cannot currently be properly vetted and approved for entry into the United States.”Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, slammed the ban, accusing Trump and h …
