Israel 'bars lawmaker from travel'

A Palestinian lawmaker says Israeli authorities barred him from leaving the West Bank on Tuesday evening. Qays Abdul-Karim, a senior member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, told Ma'an he was at the Allenby Bridge crossing to Jordan with a delegation of parliamentarians heading to a conference in Panama. “An Israeli officer approached me and asked about my destination. When I told him I was going to Panama to partake in a parliamentarian conference, the officer asked about the content of the speech I will deliver during the conference," Abdul-Karim said. "I told him I would call upon the Latin American Parliament to support the Palestinian demand to end Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, then he left and came back in a few minutes to inform me I was barred from traveling." Abdul-Karim was due to participate in the 27th session of the Latin American parliament which takes place on Thursday.