(Jerusalem) Israel announced on Saturday the revocation of the entry permits to its territory to three senior Fatah party officials and close associates of the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, after they visited a detainee recently released by the Hebrew State.
Mahmoud al-Aloul, Azzam al-Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh met with Karim Younis, an Arab Israeli released on Thursday after serving a 40-year prison sentence for the 1983 murder of an Israeli soldier.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the revocation of their permits to enter Israel after the visit, his office said in a statement.
“The three men took advantage of their status and entered Israel this morning to go to the home of terrorist Karim Younis,” the text says.
PHOTO AMMAR AWAD, REUTERS
The oldest Palestinian prisoner, Karim Younis, is welcomed back to his village, after being released from the Israeli prison in Ara, Israel, on January 5, 2023.
This decision comes the day after the announcement by Israel of the adoption of a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, in particular financial. These measures also target the advantages of certain officials “who are waging a political and legal war against Israel”, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday.
They are in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s recent approach to the UN aimed at having the question of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories examined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The General Assembly of the United Nations voted on December 31 a resolution to this effect, lambasted by Israel.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, the Palestinian sector of the city which it later annexed.
The new government, sworn in on December 29, is the most right-wing in the country’s history.