Israeli authorities on Sunday confiscated travel documents from Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on his return from a visit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, where they denounced the Israeli occupation.
After the trip, the minister’s companions were also questioned by the Israeli secret services – Shin Bet – and the Palestinian Foreign Ministry was informed about the suspension of the special travel permit issued to Al Maliki as a senior Palestinian official.
It all happened at the Allenby border crossing linking Jordan with the Palestinian West Bank under Israeli occupation, as explained by a Palestinian Foreign Ministry official, Ahmad al Deek, in statements to “The Times of Israel”.
“The minister was detained for half an hour, and his staff was there for an hour,” Al Deek explained. This special permit allows the Palestinian authorities to go through Israeli controls quickly.
Shin Bet did not comment on the information, although an Israeli official confirmed the incident and stressed that the confiscation of Al Maliki’s documentation was an exceptional case. “If so, we hope the Israelis will clarify it for us,” Al Deek said.
Palestinian sources link what happened to the Palestinian Authority’s support for the ICC investigation into alleged crimes committed in the Palestinian territories.
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office announced on March 3 the launch of an investigation into the alleged abuses committed in June 2014, after five years of preliminary investigations. It does so by promising to examine the case “independently, impartially and objectively” in response to apparent doubts raised in Israel and other countries, such as the United States.