Jerusalem will refuse all joint economic projects with the Palestinians until they declare they will not cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on its probe against Israel. The report, published by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, also noted that Jerusalem had received in recent weeks several such proposals from different countries for joint economic ventures with the Palestinians, but all of these proposals were rejected.
On March 21, Israel reportedly confiscated the VIP border pass of Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki upon his return to the West Bank from a meeting at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands. The VIP border pass enables dozens of senior Palestinian officials to move freely through border crossings.
Maliki had met March 18 in The Hague with ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, urging her to accelerate the investigation against Israel, a move that had evidently angered Jerusalem.
Neither the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed to confirm the decision of confiscation. Still, Walla! News website cited an unnamed Israeli official, who said Maliki's ICC visit was the reason for the revocation of his VIP card. Israeli analysts now estimate that similar measures could be taken against other Palestinian officials.
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