Israel takes VIP status from Palestine’s foreign minister over ICC trip

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Israel revoked the VIP permit of the Palestinian foreign minister after he returned to the West Bank from a trip to the International Criminal Court in The Hague&comma; Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The move appeared to be Israeli retaliation for Palestinian support for the ICC’s war crimes investigation against Israel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A Palestinian official said foreign minister Riad Malki was stopped on Sunday as he entered the West Bank from Jordan through the Israeli-controlled crossing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Malki’s VIP card was seized&comma; the official said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Losing the VIP status makes it harder for him to move through Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank&comma; and travelling abroad will require Israeli permission&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israeli officials&comma; speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter&comma; confirmed the incident&comma; but directed questions to the Shin Bet security agency&comma; which declined comment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined comment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ICC’s chief prosecutor&comma; Fatou Bensouda&comma; announced earlier this month that she was opening an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel committed in the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation is expected to look at the Israeli military’s conduct in a 2014 war against Hamas militants and during months of mass protests along Gaza’s frontier with Israel in which dozens of Palestinian were killed or wounded by Israeli gunfire&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel has said its actions were legitimate acts of defence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The probe also is set to examine Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem&comma; areas captured in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians for a hoped-for independent state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry&comma; Mr Malki met with Ms Bensouda last Thursday and urged her to expedite the investigations &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;to end the era of impunity and to start the path of accountability” of Israel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation was launched in response to a request by the Palestinians&comma; who joined the court in 2015 after being granted nonmember observer status in the UN General Assembly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel has fiercely condemned the investigation&comma; accusing the ICC of bias and saying it has no jurisdiction since the Palestinians do not have a state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel is not a member of the ICC&comma; but its citizens could be subject to arrest abroad if warrants are issued&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The court said last week it has sent formal notices to both sides about the impending investigation&comma; giving them a month to seek deferral by proving they are carrying out their own investigations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed1368b25b2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; 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