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JERUSALEM — Israel has decided to transfer tax and customs revenues collected last month on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to help ease the economic crisis there, a senior Israeli government official said on Wednesday.
JERUSALEM — Israel has decided to transfer to the Palestinian Authority the tax and customs revenue that Israel collected last month on the authority’s behalf, to help ease the authority’s economic crisis, a senior Israeli government official said on Wednesday.
This reverses an earlier decision to use the revenues to offset at least part of the Palestinian debts to Israeli utility companies as a punitive measure following the Palestinians’ successful bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations to that of a nonmember observer state in late November.
The decision reversed an earlier one to withhold the revenue and use it to offset some of what the Palestinians owe to Israeli utility companies. That step was meant to punish the Palestinians after their successful bid in November to upgrade their status at the United Nations to that of a nonmember observer state.
But the official emphasized that the decision was “a one-time event” and was “not an indication of what Israel might do next month.”
The Israeli official said the decision to release the blocked money was “a one-time event” and was “not an indication of what Israel might do next month.”
The decision to transfer the funds came after a meeting on Monday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair, the envoy of the so-called quartet of Middle East peacemakers that groups the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. In a statement after the meeting, both men pledged to work on peace and security issues.
It came after a meeting on Monday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain, who is now a joint Middle East peace envoy for the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, known as the quartet. In a statement after the meeting, Mr. Blair and Mr. Netanyahu pledged to work on peace and security issues.
Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Authority, said that Palestinian and Israeli officials were scheduled to hold a regular technical meeting on Wednesday where they would calculate the amount of revenues collected and owed. Revenues usually amount to around $100 million a month.
Nour Odeh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Authority, said that Palestinian and Israeli officials were scheduled to hold a regular technical meeting on Wednesday where they would calculate the amount of revenue collected and owed. The transfer from Israel was expected to be about $100 million.
The Palestinian Authority, a self-rule body with limited control over parts of the West Bank, has been in financial crisis for about two years, largely because of a drop in donor funds, and it has been struggling to pay its 150,000 government workers their full salaries on time, leading to growing restiveness and strikes.
The Palestinian Authority, a self-rule body with limited control over parts of the West Bank, has been in a financial crisis for about two years, largely because of a drop in support from donor nations. It has been struggling to pay its 150,000 government workers their full salaries on time, leading to growing restiveness and strikes.
Israel’s decision to withhold the transfers after the United Nations move was expected, but special funds pledged by Arab states to the authority as a so-called “safety net” after the diplomatic clash with Israel have not yet materialized.
Israel’s decision to withhold the revenue after the United Nations move was expected. Arab nations promised to help tide the authority over with additional donations, but those funds have yet to materialize.
Israel has withheld transfers of Palestinian tax revenues at least five times before, sometimes for weeks and, after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, for two years. But this was the first time that Israel had used the money, which constitutes about two-thirds of the authority’s income, to pay off Palestinian debts to the Israel Electric Corporation and other Israeli providers without the consent of the authority.
Israel has withheld transfers of Palestinian tax revenue at least five times before, sometimes for weeks and in one case, after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, for two years. But the latest instance was the first time that Israel said it would use the withheld money to defray Palestinian debts to the Israel Electric Corporation and other Israeli providers without the consent of the authority. Avigdor Lieberman, who was Israel’s foreign minister at the time, said in December that it would take four months of withheld tax revenues to clear up the authority’s arrears, and he said no money would be released until the debts were paid. Mr. Lieberman has since resigned.
The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, called in December for a voluntary boycott of Israeli goods by Palestinian consumers in what he called a “logical response” to the Israeli measure because the tax revenues are accrued on Palestinian trade with Israel. The call did not appear have had much impact either in the Palestinian territories or on the Israeli economy.
Palestinian leaders responded by calling the Israeli policy “piracy” and calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, which seemed to have little impact.
Israel’s former foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, had said in December that it would take four months of tax revenues collected by Israel for the Palestinian Authority to repay its debts. He had threatened that no money would be transferred from Israel to the authority until the debts were paid.
Israel is engaged in a delicate balancing act, since it has no interest in seeing the Palestinian Authority collapse, officials have said. In the weeks before the United Nations action, they said, Israel advanced money to the Palestinian Authority in response to calls for help.
In a statement released by the Palestinian Authority cabinet after a meeting on Tuesday, the withholding of tax revenues was described as “Israeli piracy.” The cabinet said that government workers would be paid the remaining half of their November salaries in the next two days, “if work is resumed in the ministries, at the least by those responsible for executing the salary payment procedures.”
The cabinet also “affirmed the urgency for our Arab brethren to accelerate the implementation of their commitments to support the state treasury,” according to the statement.
Israel is engaged in a delicate balancing act since it does not have an interest in seeing the Palestinian Authority collapse, officials there have said. In the weeks before the United Nations action, they said, Israel advanced money to the Palestinian Authority in response to calls for help and to provide some relief ahead of a Muslim holiday.
