Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official said on Saturday, after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said.
The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in "a provocative meeting" to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel," the official said. "Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security."
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
Arab ministers condemn Israel 'ban'
The foreign ministers of five Arab countries, who had planned to visit the occupied West Bank this weekend, condemned on Saturday Israel's decision to block their trip.
The ministers condemned "Israel's decision to ban the delegation's visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, Mahmud Abbas", the Jordanian foreign ministry said.
Had the visit gone ahead, the delegation's head, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, would have become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank.
Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, regarded by the United Nations as illegal under international law and one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
During a visit to one of the new settlement sites on Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the Palestinian territory.
The move comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was not only a "moral duty but a political necessity".