Defying Ban, PA’s Fayyad Attends Jerusalem Dedication
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad attended dedication ceremonies for a school in eastern Jerusalem, despite an Israeli ban.
Fayyad on Tuesday attended the dedication of a school in the Dahiyat al-Barid neighborhood, which is located on the Palestinian side of the security fence. He skipped ceremonies to inaugurate a road in Shuafat and visit a school in Sheikh Jarrah.
The events were part of an effort to celebrate P.A.-sponsored renovations of 15 schools in eastern Jerusalem. The P.A. also repaired several roads in the areas near Palestinian neighborhoods.
On Monday, a warrant was issued by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch saying that P.A. events are prohibited on Israeli soil. Aharonovitch’s office clarified Tuesday that Fayyad’s visit to a school on the Palestinian side of the security fence did not violate that order.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday also ordered security officials not to allow the P.A. to hold political events within Jerusalem’s municipal borders.
The P.A. renovations on the schools, which do not receive funding from either the education ministry or the city of Jerusalem, came as a surprise to Israeli officials.
Speaking at the ceremony in Dahiyat al-Barid, Fayyad said that the suburbs of Jerusalem were part of the Palestinian capital, Israel Radio reported.
“Netanyahu defined these suburbs as suburbs of Jerusalem, the united capital. And we say, yes, these are suburbs, but suburbs of our occupied capital which will always be the capital of our independent state,” Fayyad said. He planted an olive tree at the entrance to the school.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
