Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was on Tuesday to open a refurbished school on the outskirts of east Jerusalem after Israel barred him from opening a second one for political reasons.
The spat erupted late last week after Fayyad announced plans to open two renovated schools in the occupied eastern sector of the city, both of which lie on the occupied West Bank.
However, one of the schools is located in the Arab neighborhood of Anata, part of which falls within the “Israeli municipal boundaries of occupied Jerusalem†-- an area which is considered off-limits for any official activity by the Palestinians.
Following pressure and protests by right-wing lobby group Forum for the Land of ‘Israel’, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ordered the security establishment to bar Fayyad from officiating at the opening ceremony in Anata. " Benjamin Netanyahu ordered during a meeting with the security establishment not to let the Palestinian Authority conduct events and ceremonies in the municipal area of Jerusalem," a statement from his office said late on Monday.
Immediately afterwards, Israel's Interior Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch issued a warrant barring all Palestinian Authority officials from holding events "in Israeli territory without special permission." Any such events would be stopped by the police, said the warrant.
Fayyad aide Ghassan Khatib told AFP late on Monday that the premier would go ahead with the planned opening of the school in Dahiyat al-Barid, which is located just outside the municipal boundaries and therefore of no interest to Israel, but he would not be opening the school in Anata.
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The spat erupted late last week after Fayyad announced plans to open two renovated schools in the occupied eastern sector of the city, both of which lie on the occupied West Bank.
However, one of the schools is located in the Arab neighborhood of Anata, part of which falls within the “Israeli municipal boundaries of occupied Jerusalem†-- an area which is considered off-limits for any official activity by the Palestinians.
Following pressure and protests by right-wing lobby group Forum for the Land of ‘Israel’, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ordered the security establishment to bar Fayyad from officiating at the opening ceremony in Anata. " Benjamin Netanyahu ordered during a meeting with the security establishment not to let the Palestinian Authority conduct events and ceremonies in the municipal area of Jerusalem," a statement from his office said late on Monday.
Immediately afterwards, Israel's Interior Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch issued a warrant barring all Palestinian Authority officials from holding events "in Israeli territory without special permission." Any such events would be stopped by the police, said the warrant.
Fayyad aide Ghassan Khatib told AFP late on Monday that the premier would go ahead with the planned opening of the school in Dahiyat al-Barid, which is located just outside the municipal boundaries and therefore of no interest to Israel, but he would not be opening the school in Anata.
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