Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is unhappy with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Israel applied a third of the recently released PA tax revenues to cover just a small percentage of the PA’s financial debts for services received from Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas says he refuses to accept any tax money from Israel, if Israel doesn’t transfer all the money – including the amount used to pay the PA’s bills to Israel for electricity, water and medical services.
“We will return the money. Either they give us all the money or we go to the court,” the deadbeat Chairman Abbas threatened.
After the PA joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, and filed for a preliminary investigation against Israel for “war crimes”, a breach of the PA’s obligations under the Oslo Accords, Israel took the unusual steps to withhold Israeli-collected PA tax revenues from the PA starting in December.
The PA officially became a member of the ICC on April 1, 2015.
As reported in JewishPress.com, PM Netanyahu recently decided to release 3 months worth of tax revenue, after apparent back channels discussions were held with the PA, in which the PA agreed to not proceed at the ICC and to not cut off security cooperation with the IDF. The security cooperation is actually needed for the PA’s continued survival, and to prevent Hamas from taking over the PA from Fatah.
But Israel decided that a third of the tax revenue would be applied towards the PA’s huge unpaid debts to Israel for electricity, water and medical care.
The tax money from March is still being withheld to see if the PA meets their back-channel obligations.
Mahmoud Abbas is upset that Israel forced the PA to part of their debts. He needs that money to pay PA terrorists in jail, and to transfer to Palestinian Unity Government officials in Gaza.
Abbas insists the tax money is the PA’s and Israel has no right to use it to pay the PA’s bill to Israel.
Abbas said the PA will return all the money, if they PA doesn’t receive all of it.
Abbas further threatened to go to the ICC and complain that Israel’s deducting a part from the PA’s massive debts is a crime.
Perhaps Netanyahu should take the PA up on their offer, and use all that withheld tax revenue to pay off even more of the PA’s debt to Israel.
We’re also sure there are plenty of Jewish victims of PA terror attacks that would be happy to receive that money too.