As part of a series of sanctions against the Palestinians that Israel’s new hardline government declared days ago, the Palestinian foreign minister claims that Israel has withdrawn his travel authorization.
In a statement released on Sunday, Riad al-Malki claimed that he had just returned from attending the inauguration of the president of Brazil when he learned that Israel had revoked his travel authorization, which allowed him and other senior Palestinian officials to move around the occupied West Bank more freely than regular Palestinians.
According to a spokesperson for the Israeli defense ministry, the action is part of the implementation of a cabinet decision made on Friday to punish the Palestinians for pressuring the world body with the highest authority on justice to express its position on the Israeli occupation.
After visiting a Palestinian Israeli citizen who had recently been released from jail, Israel announced on Saturday that it had cancelled entrance credentials for three top members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.
Karim Younis was visited by Mahmud al-Alul, Azzam al-Ahmad, and Rawhi Fattouh in his hometown of Ara in northern Israel after his release on Thursday from a 40-year prison term for the murder of an Israeli soldier.
Later on Saturday, the office of defense minister Yoav Galant released a statement in which it was stated that “the three guys took advantage of their position and entered Israel this morning [Saturday] to travel to the home of the terrorist Karim Younis.” According to the statement, Galant then ordered that their Israeli entry permits be canceled.
The actions come in response to a decision made by Israel’s security cabinet on Friday to impose a construction ban on most of the Palestinian-run West Bank and to withhold $39 million in tax income from the Palestinian Authority.
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the decision was made in response to the UN General Assembly’s recent decision to send the PA’s request to the International Court of Justice against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Security Cabinet of Israel also announced that it would withhold additional funds that it usually sends to the cash-strapped PA, an amount equal to what the PA paid last year to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those who died in the conflict, including those who were involved in attacks against Israelis.
Israel claims that the so-called Martyrs’ Fund encourages violence, whereas the Palestinian leadership considers the payments as essential social aid. Israel’s refusal to release the payments might make the PA’s financial problems worse.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh declared, “Israel’s blackmailing of our tax revenues will not stop us from continuing our political and diplomatic war. He continued by saying that the Israeli actions would worsen the financial situation and fiscal deficit in Palestine.
Netanyahu assumed office at the end of last month as the leader of what is thought to be the most right-wing coalition in Israeli history, made up of far-right and Jewish ultra-Orthodox groups.
