Israel blocks planned West Bank visit by Arab foreign ministers

Al Jazeera

3 days ago

Israel says it will not allow a planned meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to go ahead, an Israeli official said.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said on Saturday, adding that the issue of whether the meeting planned on Sunday would be able to go ahead was still under discussion.
'The Palestinian Authority – which to this day refuses to condemn the October 7 massacre – intended to host in Ramallah a provocative meeting of foreign ministers from Arab countries to discuss the promotion of the establishment of a Palestinian state,' the Israeli official said late on Friday.
'Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.'
The Arab ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the occupied West Bank from Jordan because Israel controls the Palestinian territory's borders and airspace.
The Israeli move came ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was not only a 'moral duty but a political necessity'.
Last week, Israeli forces opened fire near a diplomatic convoy near Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, triggering an international outcry. The convoy included diplomats from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Russia and China.
The Israeli military claimed its soldiers fired 'warning shots' after the group deviated from an agreed-upon route.
Israel has also allowed the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, with the government announcing plans to establish 22 new settlements, including retroactively legalising a number of unauthorised outposts.
The move has been condemned by Palestinian officials and global human rights groups.
The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel's longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, at least 972 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 and more than 200 were taken captive.
Since then, at least 54,381 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip and 124,054 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Strip's Government Media Office has updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.