Israeli authorities handed VIP border pass to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on his return to the West Bank from a meeting at the International Criminal Court, a Palestinian official said Sunday.
Ahmed al-Deek, an official in Maliki’s office, said the Israeli move was linked to Maliki’s meeting with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at her office in The Hague on Thursday.
The Walla! Anonymous Israeli officials said Maliki’s ICC visit was the reason for returning his VIP card, an Israeli-issued passport that allows dozens of top Palestinian officials to move to free through crosses.
Spokesmen for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is the Foreign Minister of the State of Palestine. He does not represent himself. He represents the State of Palestine, and we see it as an attack against the Palestinian State,” Deek said.
He also said that Israeli officials arrested him and questioned Maliki’s aid for 90 minutes at the crossroads between Israel that ran between Jordan and the West Bank.
Bensouda announced this month that it would formally investigate alleged war crimes in the Palestinian Territories, a move welcomed by the Palestinian Authority and rejected by Israel.
On Friday, ICC prosecutors said they have notified Israel and the Palestinians about the opening of a war crimes investigation, a move that leaves the parties one month to seek delays.
Maliki’s office said Thursday it had met with Bensouda to urge him to speed up the investigations.