Palestinian officials said Wednesday that Israel had imposed security sanctions on them and restricted their movement, while Israel denied the claim Xinhua reported
According to the Palestinian officials, Israel imposed a prohibition on the movement of all the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, by denying their private passes.
Hanan Ashrawi, an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Xinhua that the Israeli authorities imposed these restrictions to limit the Palestinian officials' movement.
"The Israeli authorities had recently refused to renew the passing permits to the Palestinian officials, withdrew their old permits and restricted their free movement in the West Bank," said Ashrawi.
According to the interim peace treaties signed between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel should offer senior officials of some Palestinian organizations, such as PLO, PNA and Fatah party, special VIP passing permits to cross the borders and roadblocks.
"At the beginning of this year, the Israeli authorities replaced the VIP special permits with two-month-only temporary ( permits)," said Ashrawi.
Jamal Meheisen, a member of Fatah party's central committee, told Xinhua that his private permit and all the other Fatah central committee members' permits were withdrawn and Israel refused to renew them.
The Palestinian officials said the Israeli measures were in relation to the Palestinian bid for a full membership in the United Nations, in addition to their refusal to resume direct peace talks with Israel.
Israeli government officials told Israel Radio on Wednesday that it was not true that the Israeli authorities imposed security sanctions on PNA officials. They accused the Palestinian side of " fabricating" such reports.