22 March 2021•Update: 22 March 2021
ANKARA
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Monday described Israel’s confiscation of his VIP border pass as “predictable”.
“This is something predictable as the Israeli side has threatened us with punitive measures in case we dealt directly with the International Criminal Court (ICC),” al-Maliki told Palestine Radio.
“This threat, as published, was even directed to President Mahmoud Abbas,” he said.
Israel confiscated al-Maliki’s VIP border pass on Sunday upon his return to the West Bank from a meeting at the ICC.
"The minister and his accompanying delegation were questioned for half an hour before he was told to hand over his VIP card which Israel gives to Palestinian officials to allow them freedom of movement across the occupied West Bank and to enter Israel,” Ahmed al-Deek, an official at al-Maliki’s office, told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Deek said the Israeli move was in response to the ICC investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
"This is a retaliatory measure that proves that Israel is a racist state and cannot coexist with international law and always resorts to threats, pressure, and extortion," he said.
Earlier this month, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the launch of a war crimes investigation over the Palestinian territories.
While the Palestinian Authority welcomed the investigation, Israel said it would not cooperate with it.
Israel confirmed that it has received an official letter from the ICC in The Hague clarifying the scope of its war crimes probe in the Palestinian territories. The letter covers three main topics: the 2014 war on Gaza, Israeli settlement policy, and the Great Return marches in Gaza in 2018.
Israel alleges that the ICC has no jurisdiction to open such an investigation and hopes to keep delaying the case until Bensouda is replaced in June by Karim Khan, a British lawmaker Israel expects to be less hostile than Bensouda.
*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara.
