WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s authorities have denied Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa permission to visit Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank that have been repeatedly targeted by illegal settlers, a Palestinian official said.
Mouayed Shaban, head of the Colonization and Wall and Resistance Commission, told Anadolu that the Zionist regime refused to coordinate Mustafa’s planned visit to the villages of Burqa and Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, and Duma and Qusra, south of Nablus.
These areas have faced continual attacks by illegal settlers, exacerbated by the regime’s military involvement.
Shaban explained that, under agreements between the Palestinian Authority and the occupying regime, the movement of Palestinian officials requires coordination due to the presence of protective security forces accompanying them. However, this coordination was rejected by Zionist regime authorities, marking a “dangerous precedent,” Shaban said.
The refusal came after illegal settlers reportedly launched a campaign of incitement against the premier, pressuring the Israeli regime to block the visit, a move which the Israeli government subsequently adopted.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers kidnapped two Palestinian children on Saturday and tied them to a tree near the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
The incident occurred in the afternoon, as a group of children were playing near their homes on the outskirts of Beit Furik, east of Nablus. A group of settlers approached and abducted the two children.
Local residents managed to catch up with the settlers and rescue the children. However, the boys remain in a distressed psychological state.
Mohammed Hanani, the children’s uncle, told Middle East Eye that his two daughters and their cousins were playing outside their home when a group of settlers arrived from a newly established outpost built on the town’s land.
The settlers kidnapped 13-year-old Maryam and her three-year-old brother Ahmed, taking them to a remote area where they tied them to an olive tree. One of their cousins tried to intervene but settlers attacked him with stones.