JERUSALEM: Israel is delaying the transfer of taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinians in retaliation for their application to join International Criminal Court (ICC), an official confirmed yesterday.
Israel is also considering filing war crimes suits overseas against Palestinian leaders, sources said.
Haaretz daily, citing an official, said the move involves $127m (106m euros) in VAT and customs duties on goods for the Palestinian territories that pass through Israel.
“Funds for December were due to pass on Friday, but it was decided to halt the transfer as part of the response to the Palestinian move,” the paper quoted the official as saying.
On Friday, the Palestinians had submitted applications to the United Nations to join ICC and press war crimes charges against Israel.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the freeze was a war crime. “This decision is a new Israeli war crime, but we won’t back off in the face of those pressures,” he said. Tax revenues make up two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority’s annual budget, excluding foreign aid.
Meanwhile, legal proceedings at courts in the US and elsewhere are being weighed against Abbas, Palestinian Authority and other senior officials, Israeli sources said. The basis of the complaints would be that Abbas’s partnership in a consensus government with Hamas makes him complicit in the group’s rocket attacks from Gaza against civilians in Israel.
AFP
