ISRAEL TRANSFERS $1 BILLION IN TAX BACKLOG TO PALESTINE

Wed 02 December 2020:

The transfer is the first since June, when Palestinians snubbed the handover due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israel on Wednesday ended a six-month standoff with the Palestinian Authority (PA) over its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank by agreeing to transfer more than $1 billion in taxes and customs duties.

Under the Oslo peace accords, Israel collects the money on behalf of the Ramallah-based PA, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas.

The taxes are a key source of revenue for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Officials slashed the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants when the row broke out, worsening the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Both sides resumed contacts last month following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in November’s election.

Biden is a long-time opponent of annexation and is expected to use his term to renew efforts to broker an end to the decades-long conflict.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, confirmed to the Associated Press that the PA had received some 3.8 billion shekels (around $1.1 billion or €1 billion) from Israel.

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. https://t.co/TK9vueVzRW

— حسين الشيخ Hussein Al Sheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) December 2, 2020

Israel’s Finance Ministry said the funds were transferred following the approval of the Israeli Security Cabinet last month.

Israel said it would deduct an amount equal to what the Palestinian Authority pays to the families of prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including militants implicated in attacks that killed Israelis.

President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan, unveiled in January, would have allowed Israel to annex a third of the West Bank, including all its Jewish settlements.