The Palestinian government has slammed Israel's decision to implement economic sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority after applying for several U.N. conventions.
"The Israeli decision is unacceptable," government spokesman Ihab Bsaiso told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
According to Israeli Yediot Ahronot news website, Israel has decided to start enforcing punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority.
It quoted a senior Palestinian source as saying that Tel Aviv had decided to increase deductions from tax funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel collects tax revenue for the Palestinian Authority worth roughly $144 million a month, as agreed in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
According to the source, Israel regularly deducts roughly $28 million from the revenues to cover past debts by the Palestinians to Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies the West Bank and Gaza Strip with electricity, and other services.
Now Israel has raised the deduction amount to $38 million, a move that is expected to make problems for the cash-strapped PA.
"The tax revenues are a major source of income for the PA and without them we would not be able to meet our financial commitments towards our institutions and citizens," Bsaiso told AA.
"These revenues belong to the Palestinian people and Israel only collects them in accordance with the 1994 Paris Protocol on Economic Relations," he added.
Bsaiso expects the Israeli decision to backfire "because the United States and the European Union reject imposing financial pressures on the Palestinians especially that these funds are ours."
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians – which resumed in Washington last July after a nearly three-year hiatus – hit a snag in March after Israel refused to release 26 Palestinian prisoners as earlier pledged.
In retaliation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formally applied for Palestinian membership in 15 U.N. conventions.
Israel also announced a series of punitive measures against the Palestinians after the Fatah movement of Abbas signed a reconciliation deal with rival Hamas last week.
It announced on Sunday freezing Palestinian construction projects in Area C which makes up nearly 60 percent of the occupied West Bank and is under full Israeli control.
By Mohamed Khubaisa
englishnews@aa.com.tr
