Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in "a provocative meeting" to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state © Mena Today
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said. The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in "a provocative meeting" to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel," the official said. "Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security."
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
The move comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was not only a "moral duty but a political necessity".
Reporting by James Mackenzie, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Jaidaa Taha and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo
Saudi Arabia issued alerts on Thursday warning of potential danger in Yanbu, the kingdom's Red Sea oil export hub, as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis continue attacks on the kingdom that have opened another front in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
A Jordanian police officer died of his wounds on Thursday after being stabbed in the capital Amman, in what the Public Security Directorate described as a “cowardly terrorist act.”
Benjamin Netanyahu's position in the post-election battle to stay on as Israel's prime minister weakened on Thursday after an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party withheld support for any nominee and an Arab-led party endorsed his main opponent.
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