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Israel revokes Palestine's FM's travel permit over UN court move

Israel's latest decision is in retaliation against the Palestinian Authority's request to have the UN’s highest judicial body give its opinion on the Israeli occupation.

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Palestinians have condemned the revoking of Riyad al Maliki's permit, saying Israel should be the one punished for its violations against international law.

Israel has revoked the Palestinian foreign minister's travel permit, part of a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians that Israel's new far-right government announced days ago.

Riyad al Maliki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president's inauguration when he was informed that Israel on Sunday rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike the rest of Palestinians.

Israel’s Defense Ministry confirmed that Maliki's permit had been revoked. It was not clear whether the permits of other officials had been revoked as well.

Israel's government on Friday approved the steps to penalise the Palestinians in retaliation for them pushing the UN’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation.

Rulings by the International Court of Justice are not binding, but they can be influential on world opinion.

The decision highlights the tough line the current government is already taking toward the Palestinians just days into its tenure. It comes at a time of spiking Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians condemned the revoking of Maliki's permit, saying Israel should be the one being “punished for its violations against international law.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday the measures against the Palestinians were aimed at what he called “an extreme anti-Israel” step at the UN.

Sanctions on Palestinians

On Friday, the government's Security Cabinet decided Israel would withhold $39 million from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and transfer the funds instead to a compensation programme for the families of Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks.

It also said Israel would further deduct revenue it typically transfers to the cash-strapped PA — a sum equal to the amount the authority paid last year to families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed during conflicts, including suspects implicated in attacks against Israelis.

The Palestinian leadership describes the payments as necessary social welfare, while Israel says the Martyrs’ Fund incentivises violence. Withholding the funds threatens to exacerbate the PA’s fiscal woes.

The Security Cabinet also targeted Palestinian officials directly, saying it would deny benefits to “VIPs who are leading the political and legal war against Israel.”

Meanwhile, Israel's new defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said he was stripping three senior Palestinian officials of VIP privileges allowing them to enter Israel.

The move came after the officials visited a Palestinian citizen of Israel who was released from prison last week after serving 40 years.

The Palestinian Authority is a post-Oslo Accords body that was created to administer besieged Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank.

SOURCE: AP