RAMALLAH, June 3 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official announced on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) refused to receive the tax revenue dues from Israel because the Palestinian leadership ended all agreements with Israel.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, tweeted on Wednesday that "we confirm our rejection to the money of the tax revenue dues from Israel."

"Refusing to receive the money is an implementation of the Palestinian leadership's decision that all agreements and understandings reached with the Israeli government ended," he wrote.

According to the bilateral economic treaty signed between Israel and Palestine in Paris in the 1990s, Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinians from the trade that comes to the Palestinian territories through Israeli-controlled crossings.

Israel has been transferring the money it collects from the Palestinian trade to the PA treasury every month, where the PA pays salaries to its employees and covers its operation cost.

For several months, the Israeli government cut money from the tax revenue dues, as Israeli officials said the deducted money represented the amount the PA pays to the families of Palestinians jailed in Israel or killed while carrying out attacks or other security offences.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced on May 19 that the state of Palestine and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) ended all agreements and understandings reached with the Israeli and the United States government.

Abbas's decision was made in response to an Israeli government's plan to annex around 33 percent of the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty on Israeli settlements in the territory.

Netanyahu vowed several times that the annexation plan is scheduled to be implemented early next month. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)