Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at the Barta’a checkpoint south of Jenin refused on Monday evening to allow Wasfi Qabha a Hamas leader and a former Palestinian minister from entering his hometown for the funeral of his mother who died earlier in the afternoon after suffering from illness.
Qabha after hearing of his mother’s death went to the border crossing and tried to enter his hometown. The IOF soldiers banned him from accessing under the pretext that he was banished from his town.
Local sources pointed out that the mother’s body was brought to the checkpoint. Qabha prayed for her there then she was carried again to Barta’a where she was buried.
Barta’a is separated from Jenin by a military checkpoint that has isolated it since the construction of the Apartheid Wall.
