The Netherlands requested an explanation from Israel on Tuesday regarding Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki after it was reported that his VIP border pass was confiscated after a meeting at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
“We have raised the matter with the [Israeli] embassy and informed them that, as a host country, the Netherlands is very invested in the fact that the ICC must be able to carry out its work without interference,” a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said, according to Reuters.
A Palestinian official in Maliki’s office told Reuters on Sunday that the foreign minister had his VIP card taken at the border crossing with Jordan on his return to Judea and Samaria, more commonly known as the West Bank.
The official said Maliki had met with the lead prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, at the ICC in The Hague on Thursday to urge that her investigation into alleged “war crimes” by Israelis against the Palestinians be accelerated.
