Netherlands asks Israel about noted confiscation of Palestinian minister’s vacation pass

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The Netherlands explained on Tuesday it experienced questioned Israel to clarify the position of the Palestinian overseas minister just after his vacation qualifications were revoked adhering to a pay a visit to to the Global Criminal Court docket in The Hague.

A Palestinian official said on Sunday that Riyad al-Maliki’s VIP card, a move granted by Israel to allow senior Palestinian officers to shift freely as a result of border crossings, had been confiscated.

The Israeli governing administration has declined to remark on the subject.

“We have elevated the subject with the (Israeli) embassy (and) informed them that, as a host place, the Netherlands is incredibly invested in the fact that the ICC should be capable to have out its function without the need of interference,” a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda declared this month that she would investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories, after the court ruled that it had jurisdiction in the situation.

“We will not be subject matter to intimidation as we search for justice for victims of atrocity crimes dedicated in Palestine,” mentioned Rawan Sulaiman, who serves as head of the Palestinian mission in the Netherlands and Palestinian agent to the ICC.

Sulaiman identified as on ICC member states “to aid the integrity, impartiality and independence of the ICC, especially, in light-weight of the threats it, and people cooperating with it, go on to encounter.”

Israel, which does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, and the United States, which has not ratified its founding statute, have the two denounced the war crimes investigation.

Under previous President Donald Trump, the United States imposed money sanctions against Bensouda and her group.

Bensouda explained in December 2019 that war crimes experienced been or were remaining dedicated in the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip, and named each the Israel Defense Forces and armed Palestinian groups this kind of as Hamas as attainable perpetrators.

Maliki satisfied with the prosecutor in The Hague last week to urge her to accelerate the investigation, his business said.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch Modifying by Kevin Liffey)