Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumKerry Seeks To Unblock $700 Million In Aid For Palestinians
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, February 11, 2013 20:50 EST
Secretary of State John Kerry is working to try to free up almost $700 million in aid for the Palestinians which has been held up in Congress, a top US official said Monday.
“The secretary feels extremely strongly that it is time now to get this support to the Palestinian Authority,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The department was working with Congress “to get appropriated money released for the Palestinian Authority because we think it’s very, very important that they remain effective in supporting the needs of the Palestinian people.”
Some $495.7 million was set aside for the Palestinian Authority in the fiscal year 2012 which ended on October 1, while another $200 million for this fiscal year was notified to Congress last week.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/11/kerry-seeks-to-unblock-700-million-in-aid-for-palestinians/
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azurnoir
(45,850 posts)and no one knows what Palestinians need quite like Israel as shown here
Spokesman Rami Mahdawi told Ma'an that the ongoing breach "confirms that Israel is going on with its piracy on Palestinian money."
He referred to recent remarks by Israel's Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz related to tax revenue Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian government. "These remarks clearly prove that the Palestinian government is facing a severe financial crisis rendering the government unable to pay civil servants’ salaries and to pay back debts."
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Steinitz told Channel 1 TV Monday that the motives behind Israel’s decision to withhold tax money still remained. The main reasons for withholding tax money, he explained, were the PA attempts to establish partnership with Hamas, and the declarations by Palestinian leaders about their intentions to sue Israeli officials in the International Criminal Court.
If the Palestinian president abandons these paths, all options will be open for us to resume cooperation with the PA which we seek to maintain rather than destroy, added Steinitz.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=564648
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Israel has renewed the transfer of Palestinian tax funds it collects to the Palestinian Authority. The transfer of all such funds was frozen at the end of November 2012, after the Palestinians petitioned the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade their status to that of nonmember observer state.
Under the Oslo Accords, Israel collects customs duties for the Palestinian Authority and then transfers the funds.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to transfer tax revenues from December. But this is only a one-time step, said the source, in light of the PA's dire financial straits - and the matter will be reexamined at the end of next month.
On Wednesday, professional staff from Israel's Finance Ministry will meet with their Palestinian counterparts to compare accounts and agree on the amounts Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinians in January, in order to transfer that amount. The total is estimated at around NIS 400 million.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-approves-transfer-of-tax-revenues-to-the-palestinian-authority.premium-1.500159
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)it was a nice try though, maybe Israel will make good on that one-sometime soon
oberliner
(58,724 posts)How about reading them - carefully. The piracy quote dates back to January.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)perhaps it was repeated as perhaps from a Palestinian POV it is accurate, unless of course your claiming that the Palestinians are lying?
