Israel bans Salam Fayyad from having dinner with diplomats in Palestinian Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM - Israel ordered the last minute cancellation on Friday of a dinner Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had planned to hold with foreign diplomats in annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem, both sides said.
Palestinian East Jerusalem has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch imposed the ban just hours before the iftar dinner marking the end of the daytime fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan was due to be held, the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem, Adnan Al-Husseini said.
"They told me of the decision by telephone and informed the hotel in writing," he said.
Several foreign diplomats as well as religious dignitaries had planned to attend the event, together with Fayyad and Husseini.
Israeli police spokesman in occupied Jerusalem Shmulik Ben-Rubi confirmed the meal had been banned.
"Any event of a political character held by the Palestinian Authority is prohibited in Jerusalem," he said.
Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
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