JERUSALEM, Jul 11 (AP) Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday banned tax transfers worth nearly $200 million to Palestinians.
Under interim peace agreements, Israel collects hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. Tax transfers are a major source of funding for cash-strapped Palestinians.
Israel has long objected to the Palestinian “martyr fund”, which provides stipends to thousands of families whose relatives have been killed, injured or imprisoned in conflict with Israel.
Palestinians say the payments are a type of welfare system meant to help families affected by conflict. But Israel says such payments serve as rewards and incentives for violence.
In its decision, the Security Cabinet approved a recommendation by Defense Minister Benny Gantz to freeze some 597 million shekels – or about USD 180 million – in what he calls “indirect support of terrorism” in 2020. Monthly basis of payments that Israel transfers to the Palestinians.
For Palestinians, the families of the attackers are widely seen as victims of half a century of Israeli occupation. Palestinians say that many Palestinians have been wrongfully captured by Israel and that the number of prisoners involved in the deadly attacks is a small percentage of those aided by the fund.
The head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, accused Israel of stealing Palestinian funds, calling the decision a “crime and theft”. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said President Mahmoud Abbas had a telephone conversation with Israel’s new President Isaac Herzog on Sunday.
It said Abbas called for “comprehensive peace” in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, and called for steps that would create the conditions for “achieving a just and comprehensive peace”. The statement made no mention of frozen tax transfers. (AP) MRJ
(This story is published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)
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