Israel has released more than $1 billion in funds
withheld from the Palestinian Authority, a Palestinian minister
said Wednesday, weeks after coordination was renewed between the
two sides.
“The #Israeli government transfers all financial dues of the
clearance to the account of the #Palestinian Authority, amounting
to three billion and 768 million shekels,” civil affairs minister
Hussein al-Sheikh wrote on Twitter, referring to taxes, including
customs taxes, that the Jewish state collects on behalf of the
PA.
In May, the Palestinians stopped coordination with Israel, with
PA leader Mahmud Abbas saying it was in response to Israeli plans
to annex parts of the West Bank.
Israel later put its annexation plans on hold, in return for an
agreement to normalise ties with the United Arab Emirates,
announced in August.
In halting the cooperation with Israel, the PA also stopped
accepting the transfer of taxes — particularly customs duties —
collected by Israel on its behalf.
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Earlier in the week, an Israeli official told AFP on condition
of anonymity that the “security cabinet approved transferring the
money to the PA”, without specifying the amount.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Monday the
Palestinians were “entitled” to the funds, expected to relieve
pressure on a Palestinian economy in the grips of a severe
budgetary crisis.
Officials “will take everything they are owed. They have been
patient for months and it’s only a matter of a little more time to
make everything clear,” Shtayyeh said.
Deprived of this income, the PA had to cut the salaries of its
civil servants, at a time when the Palestinian economy had begun
grappling with the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic
-AFP