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Israel Revokes Entry Permits of 3 Palestinian Officials

Israeli security force members hold their weapons during clashes with Palestinians which erupted over Israel's demolition of a shop in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli security force members hold their weapons during clashes with Palestinians which erupted over Israel's demolition of a shop in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Israel Revokes Entry Permits of 3 Palestinian Officials

Israeli security force members hold their weapons during clashes with Palestinians which erupted over Israel's demolition of a shop in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli security force members hold their weapons during clashes with Palestinians which erupted over Israel's demolition of a shop in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Israel said Saturday it had revoked entry permits for three senior officials from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party after they visited an Israeli Arab recently released from prison.

Mahmud al-Alul, Azzam al-Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh had visited Karim Yunis in his home village of Ara in northern Israel following his release on Thursday after serving a 40-year sentence for killing an Israeli soldier.

"The three men took advantage of their status and entered Israel this morning (Saturday) to travel to the home of the terrorist Karim Yunis," the office of Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in a statement.

Galant ordered their Israeli entry permits be revoked in response, it added.

The move follows a decision Friday by Israel's security cabinet to withhold millions of dollars in revenues from the Palestinian Authority and impose a moratorium on Palestinian construction projects in most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that decision was in response to the UN General Assembly's recent vote to refer Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to the International Court of Justice at the PA's request.

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Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
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Palestinian Officials Say Israeli Settlers Torched Cars in Ramallah

Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians inspect their burnt vehicles at the site where Israeli settlers attacked in Al-Bireh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 04 November 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers were behind an attack in which several cars were torched overnight just a few kilometers (miles) away from the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

No one was wounded in the attack overnight into Monday in Al-Bireh, a city adjacent to Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. An Associated Press reporter counted 18 burned-out cars.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their property have surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.

But attacks in and around Ramallah, home to senior Palestinian officials and international missions, are rare.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers population centers in the territory, condemned the attack. Israeli police, who handle law enforcement matters involving settlers in the West Bank, said they were investigating.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy over less than half of the territory.

Over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship live in scores of settlements across the West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.