The Palestinian foreign minister said on Sunday that Israel revoked his travel permit, as a part of a series of punitive steps taken by Israel’s new government, The New Arab reported.
Riyad al-Malki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he was informed that Israel rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians.
Israel’s government on Friday approved the steps to penalize the Palestinians in retaliation for them pushing the UN’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation.
The decision comes at a time of spiking violence in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians condemned the revoking of Malki’s permit, saying Israel should be the one being “punished for its violations against international law.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday the measures were aimed at what he called “an extreme anti-Israel” step at the UN.
(The New Arab, PC, SOCIAL)
