Report: Israel wants to buy Palestinians’ silence ahead of annexation

Military analyst for Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Alex Fishman, said yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to buy the Palestinians’ silence over the annexation of Palestinian-held territories with “cash”.

Fishman said, while the new Israeli government is being formed, the scheduled annexation is nearing and Israel is using money to soften the Palestinians’ reaction over its plan to annex swaths of the occupied West Bank.

According to Fishman, as Israeli occupation forces arrest Palestinians during overnight raids in an effort to stop mass protests as a result of the plans to seize the Palestinian land, the government is offering to revive and nourish the Palestinian economy with hand-outs to placate Palestinians.

Research: Annexation will have ‘series of negative consequences’ on Israel 

Earlier this week, Netanyahu offered the Palestinian Authority a loan of 800 million shekels ($226 million), and to transfer nearly 500 million shekels ($141.5 million) per month for a period of six months in tax revenues that Tel Aviv collects on behalf of the PA to help combat the economic repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak.

Fishman explained that Netanyahu dubs this strategy “economic peace”; it allows him to provide Palestinians with “seemingly” better living conditions compared to neighbouring countries in return for ridding them of their ideological enthusiasm.

The policy is also a place holder until Palestinian labourers are able to return to Israel for work and helps them to continue to earn during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a PA survey, as many as 80 per cent of Palestinians said they have completely or partially lost their source of income as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.