KUALA LUMPUR, 25 May 2005 — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused the Israeli government of barring him from entering Jerusalem and Jenin to hide atrocities against Palestinians, Malaysia’s official Bernama news agency said yesterday.
Mahathir also said the Israelis — who he described as “cruel” and “arrogant” — lied about not having been warned in advance of his visit, Bernama said.
“Jenin is a place where the Israelis caused massive destruction and killed many Palestinians. That’s why they prevented me from going there,” he was quoted as saying.
Mahathir, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause during his 22 years in power, was visiting the West Bank last week when he was prevented from entering Jerusalem and Jenin.
The Israeli authorities, who control the entrance into towns throughout most of the West Bank as well as the border into Jordan, said they had received no advance warning of Mahathir’s arrival.
Mahathir said this was a lie as they were notified two weeks ahead of his visit.
“When I arrived there they took more than two hours, comparing my photographs and resorting to all sorts of delay tactics to prevent me from entering so that I will not be able to return from Jenin by 6 p.m. when the border is closed,” he said.
According to the former Malaysian prime minister, when he changed his plans and said he would go to Jerusalem instead, he received a call saying he could not proceed because of security concerns. Mahathir said the Israelis were cruel because they segregated Palestinian families by erecting a concrete security wall through their villages and seized their land, Bernama reported.
“They are an arrogant lot, they build a 30-feet (9.12 meter) wall not to separate Israel from Palestine... but Palestinian families, making them travel long distances through checkpoints when they wanted to meet relatives in the same village,” he added.
