JERUSALEM, Israel – The Palestinian Foreign Minister must now get special permission to travel abroad after Israel revoked his VIP card following his diplomatic visit to the International Criminal Court in the Hague on Sunday.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki was stripped of his special travel permit as he was re-entering the West Bank – biblical Judea and Samaria – from Jordan, Israeli media reported. The VIP card allows Palestinian officials to travel through Israeli checkpoints and abroad with less scrutiny. Therefore, losing the card makes it more difficult for the Palestinian diplomat to travel.
The Times of Israel cited an unnamed Israeli official who said canceling al-Maliki’s pass was a one-time decision.
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“If this is the case, we hope that the Israelis clarify this to us,” senior PA Foreign Ministry official Ahmad al-Deek told the Israeli media site, adding that the PA had only been told that the pass had been canceled.
The Israeli official declined to provide a reason why the diplomat’s VIP card was revoked, but PA officials claim it is Israel’s retaliation for al-Maliki’s trip to the ICC.
Earlier this month, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced she was opening an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip. Israel claims the court is being biased against it and argues the court does not have jurisdiction over Palestinian territory because a Palestinian state does not exist.
The Palestinians joined the court in 2015 after receiving nonmember observer status by the United Nations. Israel is not a member of the court.
Al-Maliki was at The Hague this weekend to express his emphatic support for the investigation and
met with Bensouda to stress “the importance of expediting” it, his office said in a statement.
The ICC’s impending investigation will center largely on Israel’s 2014 war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s crackdown on rioters at the Gaza border, and Israel’s settlement enterprise in the West Bank.
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After conducting a five-year preliminary investigation, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda determined there is a “reasonable basis to believe” that both sides of the conflict committed crimes.
The ICC confirmed Thursday it sent formal notices to Israeli and Palestinian leaders about its impending war crimes investigation, giving both parties a month to seek deferral by proving they are carrying out their own investigations.
If Palestinians and Israelis are convicted of war crimes, they will be subject to arrest abroad if warrants are issued.
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