Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday believed that the Israeli sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority are an attempt to “push it to the brink of a financial abyss” and represent “a new war”.
“These measures constitute a new war against the Palestinian people (…) and against the very existence of the Palestinian National Authority”Shtayyeh said ahead of the government’s weekly meeting.
“They have the sole purpose of pushing the Palestinian Authority to the brink of a financial and institutional abyss,” he insisted, guaranteeing that this policy would end in failure.
On Friday, Israel’s new government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, approved a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in retaliation for its pressure on the UN against the Israeli occupation.
“The only person responsible for its downfall is the Palestinian Authority itself, which has chosen to encourage terrorism and the killing of Israelis. We will not accept that.”said on Sunday the finance minister of the new Israeli government, Bezalel Smotrich, who took office on Dec. 29 and is considered the most right-wing in the country’s history.
“As long as the Palestinian Authority promotes terrorism and is an enemy, what is my interest in keeping it going?asked Smotrich during a press conference for families of victims of attacks promoted by Palestinians.
Among the measures approved by the security cabinet of the government of Israel, full of allies of the far right and religious conservative of Netanyahu, is the one that allows Israel to withhold $ 39 million (36.8 million euros) intended for the Palestinian Authority, the transfer amounts to a compensation program for the families of Israeli victims of attacks by Palestinian militants.
Another measure is Israel’s decision to further reduce funds it normally transfers to the Palestinian Authority, an amount equivalent to what the Palestinian government paid in 2022 to families of Palestinian prisoners and dead in the conflict, including militants involved in attacks on Israelis.
Palestinian leaders view the payments as helping to create necessary social services, while Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund encourages violence. Funds withheld by Israel threaten to exacerbate the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal problems.
Other announced measures are centered on the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 war. Through decades of failed peace talks, Israel has controlled the area, which the Palestinians have long claimed as part of the state they seek to create.
Israel’s new far-right government has pledged to prioritize settlement expansion and legalize illegally built outposts. Israel has already built dozens of Jewish settlements that house an estimated 500,000 Israelis living alongside an estimated 2.5 million Palestinians.
The executive branch’s Security Office also said it would suspend Palestinian construction in so-called “Area C,” the 60 percent of West Bank territory that Israel already exercises full control under interim peace agreements.
According to UN data, “Area C” includes both settlements and rural areas where about 300,000 Palestinians live.
The Israeli government also said it will “take action,” without specifying how, against organizations in the West Bank that “promote terrorist activity or hostile activity,” including groups that “take political and legal action against Israel whose actions are disguised.” . as humanitarian work”. “. It is still unclear at which groups these actions by the Israeli government could be directed.
Israel also decided on Saturday to revoke permissions to enter Israeli soil for three senior Palestinian officials, namely from Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Source: DN
