Israel barred the Palestinian education minister, Sabri Saidam, from visiting a school in the Old City of annexed east Jerusalem on Monday, officials said. "The minister entered Jerusalem but was prevented from entering the school. Israeli security banned him at the door of the school," ministry spokesman Sadiq al-Khadour told AFP, saying it was the third such incident.

"This ban comes in the context of escalation against Palestinian education in Jerusalem." Palestinian official media said the tourism minister, Rula Maaya, had been scheduled to visit the private school with Saidam. Israeli Interior Minister Gilad Erdan confirmed the ban, saying it was his right "to prohibit any official political activity of the Palestinian Authority in the territories under the sovereignty of the state of Israel".

"The struggle for our sovereignty in Jerusalem is not over. The Palestinian Authority and other elements are trying to weaken it," he added. Israel seized control of predominantly Palestinian east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war, in a move never recognised by the international community. Many schools in east Jerusalem refuse to adopt the Israeli curriculum and consider themselves Palestinian. Israel controls access to and from Jerusalem and can prevent Palestinian ministers from entering the city.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018