Gov’t expected to release PA tax funds
By HERB KEINON
30/11/2011
Icelandic parliament passes resolution to recognize Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to convene his senior cabinet on Wednesday to decide on the release of $100 million in Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has been withholding since the beginning of the month.
While it was not immediately clear whether Netanyahu would convene his forum of eight senior ministers to decide on the matter, or whether it would be raised at the weekly security cabinet meeting of 14 ministers, one senior government source said the prime minister has a majority in both forums for freeing up the funds.
He will, however, face opposition from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has come out unequivocally against the move, saying Monday his Israel Beiteinu party would “do everything possible” to prevent the transfer of the funds. Lieberman made clear, however, that despite his objections, his party would not break up the coalition over the issue.
Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that he supported transferring the money now because the situation with the Palestinians had “calmed down,” and the Palestinian Authority has at least temporarily put a hold on seeking statehood recognition in various UN bodies.
The decision to freeze the money, which according to EU numbers makes up some 30 percent of the PA budget, was taken at the beginning of the month after UNESCO voted to accept the Palestinians as a full member. In addition to freezing the funds, Israel also decided to react to that move by accelerating the building of some 2,000 housing units in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, as well as in Efrat and Ma’aleh Adumim.
According to government sources, Netanyahu believes that if the PA returns to its proactive efforts at the UN, Israel could once again freeze the funds. Under the terms of the Oslo agreements, Israel collects the tax monies each month and transfers them to the PA. Netanyahu said in the Knesset that Israel ultimately doesn’t want to see the PA fail.
The prime minister has come under intensive international pressure over the past couple of weeks to transfer the money, with one argument being that the funds pay the salaries of the PA security apparatus, and it is in Israel’s interest for that apparatus to continue functioning.
Israel froze the funds a number of times during the height of the Second Intifada as a way of placing pressure on the PA.
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=247502
I feel like giving up.
Cowards, Scum and Traitors.
This is evil.
What games the Israeli leaders, play with Jewish lives.
Wanted a nice small Island, where I can build a home and not have to watch the evil games of the Israeli so called leaders.
I am tired.
