Israel takes Palestinian FM’s VIP pass in world court flap

Israel suspended connected Sunday a walk easing the Palestinian overseas minister’s question successful and astir the occupied West Bank, among its responses to a Palestinian bid to impact the International Court of Justice (ICJ) successful their decades-old conflict.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki’s “VIP” question paper was confiscated by Israeli borderline unit arsenic helium crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank, his bureau said.

A spokesperson for Israel’s defence ministry, which administers the West Bank, confirmed the move, calling it portion of the implementation of a authorities determination connected Friday.

In televised remarks to the Israeli furniture connected Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the determination entailed, among different measures, “sanctions against elder Palestinian figures”.

“The Palestinian Authority has promoted an extremist anti-Israeli solution astatine the United Nations,” Netanyahu said.

The UN General Assembly, responding to an entreaty by the Palestinians, connected December 30 asked the ICJ for an opinion connected the ineligible consequences of Israel’s concern of Palestinian territories.

On Saturday, Israel’s defence ministry said the VIP cards of 3 different elder Palestinian officials had been revoked successful effect to their visiting a subordinate of Israel’s Arab number who had been imprisoned for sidesplitting an Israeli soldier.

Issued nether interim accords with Israel from the 1990s, the cards easiness question crossed the Israeli-controlled West Bank borderline with Jordan and from Palestinian-ruled territory into Israel.

“The overseas curate volition proceed his occupation and his diplomatic activities with oregon without the card,” Ahmed Al-Deek, an adjutant to Maliki, told Reuters.

Israel had confiscated Maliki’s VIP paper successful 2021 aft helium returned from a gathering of the International Criminal Court. It was not instantly wide erstwhile and wherefore the paper had been restored.