In protest over sovereignty, Palestinians refuse to accept $190 million in taxes collected by Israel

June 5, 2020 by JNS
Read on for article

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday refused to accept tax revenues for the month of May collected on its behalf by Israel, as part of what it says is its end of cooperation with the Jewish state over Jerusalem’s plan to extend Israeli law to parts of Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech on the new Middle East peace plan at P.A. headquarters in Ramallah, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo by Flash90.

Ibrahim Melhem, the spokesman for the Palestinian government, said in a statement that the P.A. had rejected the taxes “in compliance with the leadership decision to stop all forms of coordination with Israel,” according to Reuters. Under the Oslo agreements, Israel collects taxes on behalf of the P.A. that make up over half the P.A. government.

The Palestinian government will have difficulty functioning without the $190 million in monthly tax revenue.

P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas threatened last month to cut ties with Israel, stop security cooperation and void past agreements if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues with his plan to apply Israeli law in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

However, former senior U.S. officials have told JNS that the Palestinians are bluffing.

“The P.A. is entirely dependent on its cooperation with Israel to survive. We saw how long the P.A. lasted in Gaza before Hamas took over,” said David Wurmser, who served as a senior adviser on the Middle East to former Vice President Dick Cheney and is currently an executive at the Dephi Global Analysis Group, which he founded.

According to Harold Rhode, a longtime former adviser on Islamic affairs within the U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment, Abbas’s threat to cut off security cooperation and end agreements with Israel is empty since it is in Abbas’s and other senior Palestinian officials’ interest to continue the cooperation.

“History shows us that this is almost assuredly just bluster,” Rhode said, calling Abbas’s rhetoric the “hold me back or I’ll commit suicide strategy.”

JNS

Comments

One Response to “In protest over sovereignty, Palestinians refuse to accept $190 million in taxes collected by Israel”
  1. leon poddebsky says:

    The fuhrers of the “”Palestinian ‘”authority”””have amassed personal fortunes courtesy of Western governments, some of whom proclaim their ‘friendship’ for Israel.
    Those fuhrers can therefore afford to see their people deprived of such handouts.

Speak Your Mind

Comments received without a full name will not be considered
Email addresses are NEVER published! All comments are moderated. J-Wire will publish considered comments by people who provide a real name and email address. Comments that are abusive, rude, defamatory or which contain offensive language will not be published

Got something to say about this?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.