On Saturday, Israel said it had revoked the access permits of 3 senior members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party after visiting a Palestinian citizen of Israel recently released from prison.
Mahmoud al-Alul, Azzam al-Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh had visited Karim Younis in his home village of Ara in northern Israel after he was released on Thursday after serving a 40-year sentence for killing an Israeli soldier.
“The three men took credit for their prestige and entered Israel this morning [Saturday] to go to the home of terrorist Karim Younis,” Defense Minister Yoav Galant’s office said Saturday. Galant ordered that his Israeli access be revoked in response. Added.
On Friday a resolution moves through Israel’s security closet to withhold $39 million in profits from the Palestinian Authority and impose a moratorium on Palestinian construction projects in most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move followed the recent UN General Assembly vote to refer Israel’s profession of Palestinian territory to the International Court of Justice at the request of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel’s security cabinet has also said it will deduct plus the source of income it transfers to the Palestinian Authority, a sum equivalent to the amount the authority paid last year to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict, adding those involved in the attacks on Israelis.
Palestinian leaders describe the bills as welfare, while Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund incites violence. Israel’s withholding of the budget threatens to exacerbate the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal problems.
“Israeli blackmail of our tax revenues will not save us from continuing our political and diplomatic struggle,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said. He added that Israeli measures will worsen the Palestinian currency crisis and budget deficit.
Netanyahu took office last month leading a coalition of ultra-Orthodox and far-right Jewish parties that is the top right in Israel’s history.