Israel Takes PA Foreign Minister’s VIP Border Pass After ICC Visit

Israeli authorities took Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki’s VIP border pass after he returned to the West Bank from a meeting at the International Criminal Court, which has launched a war crimes investigation against Israel and the Palestinians. The special border pass was canceled when Maliki entered the Allenby crossing from Jordan into the West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian officials told reporters.

Maliki’s staff was questioned at the border crossing for over an hour.

“This is the Foreign Minister of the State of Palestine. He doesn’t represent himself. He represents the State of Palestine, and we regard this as an attack against the State of Palestine,” Ahmed al-Deek, an official from Maliki’s office, told Reuters.

Maliki met with Bensouda to ask her to speed up the investigations, Reuters reported.