On Wednesday, Israeli authorities decided to block any Palestinian officials from crossing through the Allenby Bridge, which joins the West Bank with Jordan. The decision only excludes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad.From now on, only Palestinian President and hi PM will be allowed to use the Allenby Bridge, Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank, Eitan Dangot, announced.
Although Dangot’s office described the move as an attempt to apply unified conditions to Palestinian officials, the decision yet seems geared specifically intended to punish two members of Fateh movement of Mahmoud Abbas.
The two are Ahmad Qurei and Mohammed Dahlan, for their criticism of Israel’s actions in the occupied territories.
However, Ahmad Qurei arrived at the crossing on Wednesday using his own car with the intention to cross into Jordan but Israeli Border Crossing Authority refused to allow him through, and claimed that he knew about the new decision and chose to ignore it. Qurei denied the Israeli allegations.
The Israeli government has not specified a time frame of the ban.
Several Palestinian Authority officials interpreted the move as another Israeli attempt to practice pressure on the P.A to resume peace talks under Israeli terms.
Yet, the office of Dangot reported that the decision is only meant to have unified conditions to all Palestinian Authority officials, except for President Abbas and Prime Minister Dr. Fayyad.
