Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he will not accept regular monthly tax transfers from Israel if it carries out its decision to deduct amounts the Palestinians pay to the families of terrorists in prison or killed in attacks against Israel.
Abbas accused Israel of trying to put political pressure on him and violating longstanding economic agreements. He said it would be the “final nail in the coffin” of those agreements and said he would not accept the funds if even “one penny” is deducted.
The monthly tax transfers cover about two-thirds of the Palestinian budget. Without those funds, Abbas’ autonomy government will fall into a crisis and not be able to pay full salaries to its tens of thousands of employees.
Abbas appears to be hoping that this doomsday scenario will pressure Israel to back down.
Israel said this week that it will withhold over $138 million in revenues that it says the Palestinians used as stipends for terrorists and their families.
The United States last year passed the Taylor Force Act, which sharply cuts assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to Ramallah continuing to fund the families of terrorists. The Trump administration has also cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to so-called humanitarian organizations and United Nations-affiliated organizations, as US President Donald Trump tries to pressure the PA leadership to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
In accordance with the Oslo Accords, Israel collects tax revenue throughout Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza, and the money is then transferred to the PA on a monthly basis.
According to Israel’s Finance Ministry, it collects about NIS 700 million and transfers about NIS 600 million of that sum to the PA, deducting for electricity, water, sewage and medical services. However, this week, Israel announce it was going to remove an additional 5%, freezing the sum, which amounts to the money given by the PA leadership to support the families of terrorists.
In a brazen move, Abbas told visiting United States Congressmen that he was no longer going to accept the tax money from Israel, telling them, If the PA is only left with NIS 20 or NIS 30 million, the amount given to the families of the “martyrs”, then all of the money will be used for this as he remains determined to continue supporting them, regardless of the position of the White House or Israel.
(AP)
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One Response
If this money is given to the terror victims then I agree let Israel keep the money, but if the money is only put into escrow then give to the Arabs now because eventually, they’ll give it back anyway.