Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that Israel will start withholding money from the funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in order to pay for the latter’s outstanding debt to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC).
“No more. After many years of great injustice, Israeli citizens will stop financing electricity for the PA out of their own pockets,” Smotrich said in a Tuesday tweet.
“For many years, the Finance Ministry failed massively, and because of that Israeli citizens paid millions of shekels each month to fund the electricity consumption of the PA. From now on, I will deduct from the funds for the PA each month the entirety of its electricity consumption, and later on we will also deduct money to offset its past debts.”
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel is responsible for collecting customs duties and other tax revenues on behalf of Ramallah, due to the PA’s lack of statehood status. It then transfers the funds to the PA on a monthly basis, providing funds that amount to nearly 65 percent of the Palestinian annual budget.
The PA’s debt to the IEC currently stands at NIS 2 billion ($525 million), according to the Israel Hayom paper.
Israel has intermittently announced cuts, amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels this year alone, to the funds it transfers to the PA, citing Ramallah’s payment of stipends to the families of terrorists as well as prisoners jailed for terror offenses.
In 2018, Israel passed a law requiring that a sum equal to the monthly stipends the PA pays be withheld from the tax revenues it transfers to the Palestinians. This law has not been regularly enforced, but the finance minister has from time to time announced such cuts.
Israel’s security establishment has warned that withholding funds to the cash-strapped PA could risk leading to its collapse.
In a response to the deductions announced by Smotrich for the electricity debt, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said to government news agency Wafa that the debt had been incurred by the Jerusalem District Electricity Company, a private company that supplies electricity to consumers in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian districts of Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jericho.
The company, which supplies electricity to 30% of Palestinian households, does not have its own power stations, but buys over 95% of its electricity from the IEC and the remainder from Jordan for the Jericho area. Shtayyeh noted that the company is not affiliated with the PA, and therefore the deduction of a private debt from the funds destined to a public authority equals “systematic piracy and theft,” and constitutes a “declaration of a financial war.”
The measures imposed by Israeli authorities on the Palestinian Authority are “a recipe for explosion,” and are implemented “in defiance of international laws while taking advantage of the absence of accountability and the feeling they have of being safe from punishment,” Shtayyeh added. He called on the United States and European Union countries to intervene to stop the move.
As The Times of Israel’s political correspondent, I spend my days in the Knesset trenches, speaking with politicians and advisers to understand their plans, goals and motivations.
I'm proud of our coverage of this government's plans to overhaul the judiciary, including the political and social discontent that underpins the proposed changes and the intense public backlash against the shakeup.
Your support through The Times of Israel Community helps us continue to keep readers across the world properly informed during this tumultuous time. Have you appreciated our coverage in past months? If so, please join the ToI Community today.
~ Carrie Keller-Lynn, Political Correspondent
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel eleven years ago - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Smotrich says Israel to withhold millions from PA to repay electricity debt
16
0
06.09.2023
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that Israel will start withholding money from the funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in order to pay for the latter’s outstanding debt to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC).
“No more. After many years of great injustice, Israeli citizens will stop financing electricity for the PA out of their own pockets,” Smotrich said in a Tuesday tweet.
“For many years, the Finance Ministry failed massively, and because of that Israeli citizens paid millions of shekels each month to fund the electricity consumption of the PA. From now on, I will deduct from the funds for the PA each month the entirety of its electricity consumption, and later on we will also deduct money to offset its past debts.”
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel is responsible for collecting customs duties and other tax revenues on behalf of Ramallah, due to the PA’s lack of statehood status. It then transfers the funds to the PA on a monthly basis, providing funds that amount to nearly 65 percent of the Palestinian annual budget.
The PA’s debt to the IEC currently stands at NIS 2 billion ($525 million), according........
© The Times of Israel
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Rami G Khouri
Andrew Mitrovica
Srecko Horvat
