Ramallah mulling reduction in ties with Israel: PLO

RAMALLAH

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is mulling a reduction in its security, political and economic relations with Israel in response to the Knesset's recent approval of a controversial Palestinian tax law, according to a senior Palestinian official.

“Israel’s recent decision to take money from the funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) is tantamount to the destruction of the Palestinian state,” Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee, said Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, the PA’s administrative capital, Erekat said the new law “effectively means that Israel considers the PA to no longer exist”.

“We are studying the Palestinian National Council’s call to redefine our security, economic and political relations with Israel,” Erekat said, going on to stress the PA’s readiness to hand over responsibility for the occupied Palestinian territories to Israel.

“The ongoing destruction of the PA means it is time for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to shoulder his responsibility as the occupying power in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem,” he said.

On Monday, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a bill allowing it to reduce the funds it provides the PA by the amount that the latter pays out to the families of Palestinians detained -- or killed -- by Israel.

Under the law, the withheld monies will instead go into a fund set up to help Israeli victims of attacks allegedly carried out by Palestinians.

According to the terms of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, Israel -- on behalf of the PA -- collects some $175 million in monthly taxes on Palestinian imports and exports.

This tax revenue represents the PA's main source of income.

Erekat also accused the U.S. of working with Israel to destroy the prospects for a two-state solution to the decades-long Palestine-Israel conflict.

“It [the U.S.] recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital -- and moved its embassy there -- while cutting aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA),” he said.

Erekat went on to say the PA was planning to go to The Hague-based International Criminal Court in an effort to hold the U.S. accountable for its actions.

The PA, he added, hoped to coordinate these efforts with Arab capitals and the European Union.

Two top U.S. officials recently went on a tour of the region during which they held talks with officials in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Israel to promote a backchannel peace plan dubbed the “Deal of the Century”.

Ramallah, however, has rejected U.S. mediation since last December, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since 1967 -- might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.