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ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-CONFLICT-TAXATION-ECONOMY
Palestinians keep up refusal of tax revenues after Israel cuts
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, April 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The
Palestinians on Monday restated their refusal to accept tax revenues
collected on its behalf by Israel so long as the Jewish state deducts
millions of dollars over a dispute about prisoners.
“Our position is as it was: We will not receive any money from Israel if
it is incomplete,” Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas told the
weekly cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“This is something we will not accept at any cost.”
Israel collects around $190 million a month in customs duties levied on
goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports,
and then it transfers the money to the PA.
In February, the Jewish state decided to deduct around $10 million a month
from those revenues, corresponding to the amount it said the PA paid families
of prisoners or directly to inmates serving time in Israeli jails.
The Palestinians responded by saying they would refuse any funds where
unilateral deductions had been made.
Israeli public radio reported Monday that a month’s payment — minus the
$10 million deduction — had recently been transferred to PA bank accounts,
in the hope the authority would quietly accept payment.
But after two weeks, the radio said, the money was returned to the Israeli
finance ministry.
Israel sees the payments to those who have carried out attacks against
Israelis as encouraging further violence.
The PA describes the payments as a form of welfare, while the Palestinian
public regards prisoners jailed by Israel as national heroes.
The Arab League pledged last week to provide the PA with $100 million
monthly, potentially averting a financial crisis caused by the row.
Abbas on Monday called on the body to honour that pledge.
“We do not have high hopes, but perhaps the amount could be considered a
debt that we return as soon as Israel returns” the money, he said.
Abbas also renewed his opposition to a proposed US peace plan expected to
be unveiled this summer.
He has refused to negotiate with Donald Trump’s administration since
December 2017, when the US president controversially recognised Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital.
Abbas, 84, has previously faced accusations of anti-Semitism in comments
about the history of Israel, Jews and Zionism, the ideological movement
behind the creation of a Jewish state, accusations he denies.
On Monday, he said: “Europe created — this slightly annoys our neighbours
— Zionism and Israel.”
“Let’s not fool ourselves — this is what history says.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1808 hrs