The Palestinian Authority called off a plan to honor five terrorists jailed in Israel.
On Thursday, relatives of five Palestinians serving lengthy prison terms in Israel for terrorist outrages were to have received the Jerusalem Medal – the highest honor that can be bestowed by Mahmoud Abbas’ administration.
Abbas, who was abroad, had no comment, but unnamed aides told Israeli media Wednesday that the awarding of the prize was a “humanitarian gesture.”
The reports provoked outrage in Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s office said she raised the “grave and problematical issues arising from this” with visiting U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
On Wednesday evening, the Palestinian Authority announced that the ceremony had been postponed.
Among the slated recipients were Amana Muna, who lured an Israeli teenager to his death with the promise of sex in 2001, and Ahlam Tamimi, who helped a Hamas suicide bomber kill 15 people at Jerusalem’s Sbarro pizzeria that year.
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