Foreigners must tell the Israeli defence ministry if they fall in love with a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to new rules.

If they marry, they will be required to leave after 27 months for a cooling-off period of at least half a year.

It is part of a tightening of rules on foreigners living in, or wanting to visit, the West Bank. [...]

The regulations laid out in a lengthy document include a demand on foreigners to inform the Israeli authorities within 30 days of starting a relationship with a Palestinian ID holder.

New restrictions on Palestinian universities include a quota for 150 student visas and 100 foreign lecturers, while there are no such limits in Israeli ones.

Businesspeople and aid organisations say they will also be severely affected. The rules set strict limitations on the duration of visas and visa extensions, in many cases preventing people from working or volunteering in the West Bank for longer than a few months. [...]

A longstanding Israeli ban on granting residency status to foreign spouses of Palestinians in the West Bank means that thousands of people continue to live with an uncertain legal status.

The campaign group, Right to Enter, complains of "discriminatory, cruel and arbitrary practices by Israeli authorities" causing "immense humanitarian difficulties" for foreign spouses which result in them being forcibly separated from their families in the West Bank.

It says the new procedures will only "formalise and aggravate many of the existing restrictions" and "will force many families to move or stay abroad to maintain their family unity."

Some categories of visits to relatives are not listed at all in the new rules, including visits to siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren.