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Photo:
Najat Abu Bakr. File. Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) was denied entry into Jordan from the occupied West Bank via the Allenby Bridge by Palestinian Authority (PA) checkpoint authorities on Wednesday.

Najat Abu Bakr told Ma’an that the PA crossings authority in Jericho had informed her that she was banned from leaving the West Bank. She was on her way to Lebanon to attend a ceremony in which she was expected to be honored as the most respected lawmaker in the Arab world.

Abu Bakr was among four Fatah-affiliated Palestinian lawmakers that had their parliamentary immunity revoked by PA President Mahmoud Abbas last year.

Following the decision, Fatah parliamentary members held a meeting with the Hamas-dominated PLC in the besieged Gaza Strip for the first time since 2007 and declared the decision illegal and unconstitutional.

The move was quickly condemned as a political maneuver to maintain the leader’s control over the PA government and squelch his political rivals amid mounting unpopularity for Abbas’ more than a decade-long domination of Palestinian politics.