WATCH: Palestinian PM gets into row with Israeli police over reckless driving
Officers tried to release Palestinian leader quickly, but he first demanded an apology from the police officers for stopping him.
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah got into a row with Israeli policemen who stopped him Tuesday for reckless driving near Ramallah, calling one of them a "dog".
After the prime minister and his convoy were pulled over on Route 60, a crowd of Palestinians gathered around the vehicles. Following a short altercation with the police and IDF soldiers who were also present, the prime minister and his entourage were sent off.
An Israeli official confirmed to Ynet that the prime minister's driver was pulled over due to reckless driving. The source also said that once the police officers realized that the prime minister was inside the vehicle they tried to let them go quickly, but Hamdallah insisted that the entire convoy would remain parked on the spot until the officers apologized.
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After a short period of time, according to the official, one of the officers apologized to Hamdallah for pulling them over and then let them drive away. The official said that the Palestinian prime minister swore at one of the police officers, calling him a "dog" who was standing on occupied territory.
Immediately after Hamdallah was pulled over, the IDF, police and Civil Administration arrived at the scene, and the road was closed to traffic. Local sources said that the police officers had seized the cell phone belonging to Hamdallah's driver.
Last month, police in the West Bank chased a black Mercedes driving at 145 km per hour in an 80km per hour area. The person behind the wheel turned out to be the driver for former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia, who was in the back of the car.
Qureia and his driver were detained for two hours, and only after the commanding officer of the unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, Major-General Eitan Dangut intervened were they released.
