Israel not among nations getting visa waiver from U.S.

President George W. Bush announced a decision over the weekend to exempt the citizens of seven more countries from the need to apply for U.S. visas; Israel was not among the seven.

The U.S. is also supporting the same measure for an additional six countries - Israel, again, is not one of them. The countries that received the exemptions are Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Korea.

The six additional countries on the road to visa exemption are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Poland and Romania. Several of these countries have assisted the U.S. in its war on terror, particularly in activities in Afghanistan.

Despite the special relationship between Israel and the U.S., the latter has refused Israel's requests in recent years to expedite visa exemptions. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit made an official request on the matter two weeks ago when he met in Washington two weeks ago with Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

Sheetrit was told that the U.S. wants to move the matter ahead but that Israel has to meet certain conditions, including a biometric passport containing fingerprint or iris identification.

The cabinet approved biometric passports a month ago but a long legislative process awaits in the Knesset on the matter, and biometric passports will likely only come into use at the end of 2009.

A senior government official said in Jerusalem last week that "without biometric passports, no progress is expected" on the matter.