(Jerusalem) The Israeli government decided on Sunday to maintain in place the partial freezing of funds due to the Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of financially supporting the Palestinian families of perpetrators of anti-Israeli attacks.
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
An Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the ministers made the decision after a meeting of the security cabinet.
Israel collects $190 million (about C$243 million) each month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that pass through Israeli ports, and it normally transfers this sum to the Palestinian Authority.
About 600 million shekels (about C$225 million) will be withheld annually since the law regulating this partial freeze came into force in 2019.
According to Israel, this amount corresponds to the allowances paid in 2021 by the Palestinian Authority to the families of Palestinians who have committed anti-Israeli attacks.
According to the Palestinian Authority, these allowances serve as compensation for families who have lost their main breadwinner, while Israel considers that they encourage violence.
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh accused Israel of “stealing” Palestinian money.
Israel’s policy of “financial blockade and stealing our money” adds to the “daily escalation in our towns, villages and camps”, he wrote on Twitter.
The Palestinian Authority is headquartered in Ramallah, in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by the Israeli army since 1967.
It exercises limited powers over approximately 40% of the West Bank. Israel, which controls all access, administers the rest of this territory as well as the settlements there.
The Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, has been under Israeli blockade for more than 15 years.