Israel gives Palestinians tax funds, despite terrorist payments
The Finance Ministry confirmed that Israel paid NIS 3.768 billion to the PA, and only deducted the cost of services provided, not the “pay for slay” funds.
By LAHAV HARKOVPalestinian women walk past a money changer in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 16, 2010. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN)
The government of Israel did not deduct the amount the Palestinian Authority paid terrorists and their families from the taxes and tariffs collected for the PA and transferred to Ramallah on Wednesday.The Finance Ministry confirmed that Israel paid NIS 3.768 billion to the PA, and deducted only the cost of services provided, not the “pay for slay” funds, as the terrorist salaries have been called.Palestinian head of the General Authority on Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh announced the payment on Twitter, remarking that “the Israeli government transfers all financial dues of the clearance to the account of the Palestinian Authority.”The 2018 “Pay for Slay Law,” which mandates the security cabinet to deduct the funds the PA pays terrorists pursuant to an annual report from the Defense Ministry, requires the freeze to be implemented immediately following the cabinet decision. However, the government did not do so this week.A Finance Ministry representative said on Wednesday that those deductions, of NIS 50 million per month for 12 months, will begin only next month.Israel collects VAT and tariffs for the PA, in keeping with the Oslo Accords. Those funds are the PA’s largest source of income. Israel also collects income tax and health-insurance payments for Palestinians working for Israelis.The security cabinet authorized the renewal of payments to the PA on Sunday, following the Palestinians’ return to cooperation with Israel after several months of refusing to accept the funds.The cabinet also approved the deduction of NIS 600m. over the next year, the amount the PA paid terrorists and their families in 2019, according to a Defense Ministry report from the beginning of this year.The PA “Martyrs Fund” grants a monthly stipend, greater than the salary of the average Palestinian, to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned for their involvement in terrorist attacks against Israelis. The payments are greater for those serving longer prison sentences, such that terrorists are paid more for killing more Israelis.Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus said the NIS 3.768b. is “the exact sum that [Israel] had accrued on behalf of the PA for the months of May through November.
“Our fear is that the PA will interpret the transfer of the entire sum, without the deduction of any of the PA payments to terrorists in 2019, as acquiescence of the Israeli government to the PA’s terror reward policy,” Marcus said.
