Arab League slams Israeli ban on Jerusalem officials

CAIRO

The Arab League has strongly condemned a decision by Israeli authorities to bar the minister and governor of Jerusalem from travel.

“The travel ban amounts to a crime that is only being committed by occupation authorities,” Said Abu Ali, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, said in a statement on Saturday.

On Thursday, Israeli authorities imposed a three-month travel ban on Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan al-Husseini and confiscated his passport.

Israel also banned the Jerusalem governor Adnan Ghaith from entering the occupied West Bank for a six-month period.

Israeli authorities did not give any reason for the ban on the two Palestinian officials.

Abu Ali called on Israel to reverse its ban on the two Jerusalem officials, describing the decisions as “unjust”.

"Israel prevents Muslims and Christians from reaching worship places in Jerusalem, which is the highest degree of terrorism in the world," he said.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Mideast conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since 1967 -- might one day serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

International law continues to view East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.