Israeli freezes Palestinian tax revenues

The public treasury of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been suffering a high level of indebtedness for several years and according to Ma’an news agency, the occupation authorities have now frozen Palestinian tax revenues.

An unnamed senior Palestinian official told the news agency on Monday that the Israeli occupation has not transferred the tax revenues it had collected on behalf of the PA.

This is particularly bad news at the present moment, because following the end of the latest Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip and in the wake of forming a Palestinian unity government the PA has now entered a new stage of increased responsibility.

The PA must meet the needs of the Gaza Strip, which was announced a “disaster area” by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. On the other hand, the PA is facing the new reality of having to pay the salaries of Palestinian employees recruited during Hamas’s control of Gaza.

To make matters worse, all these challenges have come at a time when most donor countries have not met their aid commitments, not having transferred any money to the PA treasury.

Until today, the PA has not announced the expected date for it to pay its employees in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.