PALESTINE’S President Mahmoud Abbas said at the weekend that he had reached an agreement with Israel under which taxes it collects for the Palestinians will finally be transferred.

Israel had illegally held on to the funds for four months.

It “froze” the tax transfers as revenge in January, after Palestine applied to join the International Criminal Court.

Israel typically collects taxes and customs on behalf of Palestine and then transfers the sums to the Palestinian Authority.

They account for 70 per cent of the authority’s revenue.

Mr Abbas had initially rejected Israel’s unfreezing of the tax funds because Israel had attempted to link the unfreezing with a deduction to settle debts incurred by the Palestinian Authority, including unpaid utility bills.

But Mr Abbas told Palestinians leaders on Saturday that “there is an agreement; the money will be sent in full.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced after his re-election last month that the transfers would resume, casting the end of the illegal seizure as a “humanitarian gesture.”

Palestinian officials said Israel owes the Palestinian Authority 1.8 billion shekels (£300 million) in frozen funds and had demanded to keep hundreds of millions of shekels for debt repayment.

Israel said the Palestinians have racked up debts to Israel’s electric company in excess of two billion shekels (£340m).
United Nations special co-ordinator Nickolay Mladenov welcomed the release of the tax revenues.

“Withholding these revenues undermined the stability of Palestinian institutions,” he said. “This agreement is an important step in the right direction.”

by Our Foreign Desk