Israeli occupation regime revoked on Saturday the entry permits of three Palestinian Authority (PA) officials who visited Karim Younes, a Palestinian prisoner who was released from prison earlier this week after serving 40 years.
A statement by the office of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant named the trio of Palestinian officials as Mahmoud Aloul, Azzam Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh.
“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 Defense Ministry statement read.
Aloul is the deputy of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and one of the leading candidates to succeed the elderly leader.
The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner was released from Israeli prison last Thursday. He had been in Israeli jails since 6 January 1983. He was initially sentenced to death over killing an occupation soldier in 1980, but his sentence was later modified to a 40-year term.
Aloul, Ahmad and Fattouh had visited Younes in his home village of Ara following his release on Thursday.
The move followed a decision on Friday by Israeli security cabinet to withhold $39m in revenues from the PA 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 United Nations General Assembly’s recent vote to refer Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory to the International Court of Justice at the PA’s request.
Source: Israeli media and Al Jazeera
