Rashida Tlaib rejects Israeli offer to visit country under 'oppressive' non-political conditions

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has said she will not visit Israel under the “oppressive conditions” it is imposing on the trip.

Ms Tlaib and fellow congresswoman Ilhan Omar were on Thursday banned by Israel from visiting the country.

On Friday, Israeli authorities announced that Ms Tlaib would be allowed to enter Israel on a “humanitarian” basis, in order to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, who lives in the occupied West Bank.

“Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me,” Ms Tlaib tweeted on Friday, following that decision.

“It would kill a piece of me," she added. "I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”

Her announcement arrived shortly after Israel’s interior minister said he had received and granted a request by Ms Tlaib to enter the Israeli-occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds.

That decision marked a sharp reversal over what had been a planned visit by Ms Tlaib and Ms Omar to Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Israel announced a day prior it was barring the two from entry — an unprecedented move targeting members of the US Congress.

Ms Tlaib released a statement through her office reading: “In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government.”

“In preparation for my visit, my grandmother was deciding which fig tree we would pick from together, while Palestinians and Israelis who are against the illegal military occupation were looking forward to Members of Congress finally listening to and seeing them for the first time,” she added. “The Israeli government used my love and desire to see my grandmother to silence me and made my ability to do so contingent upon my signing a letter – reflecting just how undemocratic and afraid they are of the truth my trip would reveal about what is happening in the State of Israel and to Palestinians living under occupation with United States support.”

Donald Trump said in a tweet it would show “weakness” to allow in the two Muslim members of Congress who have been sharply critical of him and of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision — and Mr Trump’s prior prodding — had sparked widespread criticism, including from Israeli and Jewish organisations which said it was an affront to US institutions to bar the entry of members of Congress. Critics also argued that it weakened Israel’s traditionally strong ties with the US through heavy-handed partisanship.

Ms Tlaib’s apparent pledge to conduct the visit in line with restrictions imposed by Israel angered Palestinians who had hoped the congressional tour, organised by a Palestinian group, would highlight their plight.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians hope to establish an independent state on those lands.

Ms Tlaib and Ms Omar are known as supporters of “boycott, divestment and sanctions,” or BDS, a Palestinian-led global movement. Israel alleges that BDS targets Israel’s very existence, while the movement’s supporters say it is intended as leverage to end more than half a century of Israeli military rule over Palestinians.

Additional reporting by AP