Palestinians to ask UN to stop Israeli tax freeze
AFP
Date: 5/11/2011
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian leadership on Wednesday voted to ask for United Nations intervention to lift an Israeli freeze on transfers of tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority.
"The executive committee has decided to turn to all international bodies, including the UN Security Council, to demand that Israel unblock Palestinian Authority funds," Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) official Yasser Abed Rabbo told AFP after a meeting of the committee.
Earlier, Israel's finance minister brushed off international pressure over the freezing of tax revenue transfers to the Palestinians, warning that the Jewish state could take even harsher steps.
"The delay in transferring funds is a yellow card for the Palestinian Authority after the signing of the agreement with Hamas," Yuval Steinitz told public radio, referring to Israel's decision to delay the transfer of 60 million euros ($86 million) to the Palestinian Authority.
"Until now, it is a delay of a week to 10 days, but it could become a red card," he said, adding that Israel would decide what to do depending on "clarifications" from the Palestinians.
Israel announced the freeze on May 1, just days after Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced a reconciliation deal with Hamas aimed at ending years of enmity between the Islamist militant group and his secular Fatah movement.
The deal envisages the two sides working to set up a caretaker government of independents not allied to either faction which will govern until elections are held within a year.
The tax revenues make up two thirds of the Palestinian Authority's annual budget, excluding foreign aid.
Earlier on Wednesday, Abed Rabbo, in an interview with official Palestinian radio, described the Israeli freeze as "part of a policy of collective punishment."
The Israeli government, he said, fails to meet "the minimum international humanitarian norms which rule relations between states, even if one of the parties is an occupied people."
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