Qalandiya crossing
Qalandiya crossingYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

The Ministry of Defense announced its decision to prohibit the entry into Israel of Palestinian Arab families wishing to participate in an Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony initiated by extreme leftist organizations.

Sources involved in the matter said that the directive not to allow the Palestinian Arabs to enter was given by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who also serves as Defense Minister.

The extreme leftist organizations, the Combatants for Peace movement and the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, filed a request for the entry of 181 people into Israel. All the requests were rejected and it was clarified that entry of Palestinian Arabs is not permitted due to the closure imposed on Judea and Samaria from the eve of Memorial Day until after Independence Day.

The organizations announced their intention to petition to the Supreme Court against the decision.

"Netanyahu did not learn anything from the lessons of the last few years, including the Supreme Court ruling last year that reprimanded the Defense Minister for preventing the entry of our Palestinian partners who decided to put aside any desire for violence, terror and revenge, and work together with us for dialogue and reconciliation,” claimed the organizations.