Jerusalem (AFP)

Israeli authorities on Thursday banned two US women voters from entering Israel because of their support for the boycott campaign of the Jewish state and following a request by President Donald Trump.

Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and members of the left wing of the Democratic Party of the United States, were to land this weekend in Tel Aviv to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where they were warmly awaited.

But following a controversy in the local press and a request from US President Donald Trump --dent they are political opponents - the Israeli Ministry of the Interior decided Thursday to prohibit entry into Israel, believing that their visit was part of "anti-Israel boycott activities".

The decision was made "in agreement" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the ministry said in a statement.

"These women are using the international scene to support the BDS associations that call for a boycott of Israel," the ministry said, justifying its decision on the basis of an Israeli law allowing since 2017 to prohibit entry into the soil. Israeli supporters of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).

This movement calls for Israel's economic, cultural or scientific boycott to protest the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Israel's colonization of the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem has continued under all Israeli governments since 1967, but has accelerated in recent years under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and his ally in Washington, DC Trump.

He said on Thursday that Israel would show "great weakness" if it allowed Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to visit. "They hate Israel and all the Jewish people and there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds," the US president said in a tweet. "They are a shame!"

"No country is more respectful of the United States and its Congress than the state of Israel," said Netanyahu.

"Israel is open to visits with one exception, that of people calling and campaigning for its boycott," he added, to justify the decision of his government to block the road to the two US women.

The ban is "an act of outrageous hostility against the American people and its representatives," said Hanane Achraoui, a senior Palestinian official.

It is "an attack on the right of the Palestinian people to engage in dialogue with the rest of the world," said the executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

- At the village -

Born in Detroit (northeastern United States), Rashida Tlaib is the first American woman of Palestinian descent, both of her parents having grown up in the occupied West Bank.

In the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, his family was eagerly awaiting the arrival of "local pride", which was to meet local organizations from Sunday and visit his family.

"We are preparing a party for her and Ilhan, we want to sacrifice a sheep upon their arrival," the 85-year-old Muftia Taleb's grandmother, surrounded by family members, told AFP. Sand-colored stone house courtyard lined with olive trees, shortly before the authorities announce their decision.

Just 10 meters from the property, a fence separates the occupied West Bank from an Israeli highway leading to Tel Aviv, its slender towers and its international airport where Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will not land as planned.

Why block him entry? "Because she defends her nation and the Palestinian cause", responds with the tac tac to his uncle Bassam, 53, who says he has waited since 2006 for the return of his niece Rashida in the family home.

"We were surprised when Trump recently asked Rashida and Ilhan to return to their home country, and today Rashida wants to go home so why are they doing everything to stop her," Bassam says.

© 2019 AFP