Palestinian activists want Mofaz arrested when he comes to Ramallah
Deputy PM, set to meet Abbas on Sunday, should be held for war crimes, protesters claim
A group of Palestinians has petitioned the Palestinian Authority attorney-general to arrest Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz for “war crimes against the Palestinian people” when he visits Ramallah on Sunday.
“We oppose Mofaz’s visit,” Ali Abidat, an independent journalist and one of the initiators of the petition, told Maariv on Thursday. “He’s responsible for killing hundreds, if not thousands, of our people in Lebanon and Ramallah, in Bethlehem and in Nablus — all over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
Mofaz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister, is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to restart long-stalled peace talks.
“Why can’t cannot we prosecute Israeli war criminals when Israel judges us even though we are not criminals?” Abidat added.
The activists, who rallied outside PA Attorney General Ahmad Al Mughani’s office, belong to a group called “Youth Who Love the Nation.”
Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday that Palestinian officials were doubtful the meeting would create a meaningful opening for top-level peace talks.
“Israel knows the conditions we have for restarting the peace talks, which include a halt on settlement construction and negotiations on the basis of 1967 borders. To our regret, the government that Mofaz has joined is acting against these principles,” a Palestinian official told Yedioth.
Hamas officials are reportedly lobbying for the cancellation of the meeting.
AP contributed to this report.