Ramallah - Ma‘an - Israeli authorities prevented Dr Mustafa Al-Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, from reaching Jerusalem for a meeting with Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva that was scheduled for Friday morning.
Al-Barghouti said in a statement that this was the seventeenth time during recent months that Israeli authorities have prevented him from entering Jerusalem.
He described this as an additional arbitrary measure implemented in the context of other restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities aiming to isolate and Judaize Jerusalem, even though the city is an integral part of the Palestinian territories.
Al-Barghouti stressed that all the Israeli practices against Jerusalem will not succeed in depriving the Palestinian people of their holy city as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state. He added that the cancelled meeting with the Portuguese president will be rescheduled soon.