Israel Responds to Move to Recognize Palestinian State by Withholding Funds

Israel will not transfer much-needed funds to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the decision by three European countries to recognize a Palestinian state, the country’s finance minister said on Wednesday, as its foreign minister denounced the European moves as giving “a gold medal to Hamas terrorists.”

The decision by the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader who opposes Palestinian sovereignty, threatened to push the Palestinian government into a deeper fiscal crisis. He said in a statement that he had informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would no longer send tax revenues to the authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank in close cooperation with Israel.

Mr. Smotrich’s office signaled that the decision was at least partly a response to Spain, Norway and Ireland recognizing Palestinian statehood, and that the Palestinian leadership bore responsibility for campaigning for the move.

xmunk,

As if they wouldn’t have done this shit anyways.

Delta_V,

As far as I can tell, Israel does not actually collect money from people living in Gaza or the West Bank. The local governments of those places collect taxes themselves.

Israel taxes imports into Israel, and made a deal with PLO in 1994 to gift them some of that revenue. That deal expired in 1999, but until now Israel kept giving them free money anyway.

GrymEdm, (edited )

Edit: I tracked down a copy of the actual relevant agreement, and it definitely is money collected from Palestinians and on purchases made in Palestine on products that are brought into Palestine. Discussion a few comments down if interested.

I’m not sure if they collect all taxes, but according to the article they do collect at least some (and a meaningful amount):

"Under decades-old agreements, Israel collects customs and import taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Those revenues constitute most of the Palestinian budget, particularly as international aid has declined. "

Delta_V,

Those customs and import taxes referenced in the article are on goods that get imported into Israel, and they get paid by people in Israel. Until now, a portion of that revenue was gifted to the governments in Gaza and the West Bank.

GrymEdm,

As best as -I- can tell, Israel is collecting Palestinian taxes. Here’s another article from a different outlet:

What are the Palestinian funds that Israel collects?

Israel collects Palestinian import tax revenue as agreed to in the 1994 Paris Accords signed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel. The tax revenue Israel collects is made up of indirect taxes imposed on Palestinian imports. It comes from two primary sources: VAT on goods and import tax on goods brought in from outside Israel.

These are taxes that would normally be collected by a country for transactions within/at their borders, not charity/extra taxes paid for by Israelis. From the Wikipedia article, Israel collects taxes on goods/services that end up in Palestine, and controls/collects tariffs on goods entering Palestine. They tax Palestinian labor both in Israel and in the illegal settlements in OPT. They have also used withholding those taxes as a form of control several times in history and those are listed in the article.

As you note, this situation was only supposed to last 5 years, instead Israel has enforced it for 30 and according to the UN it’s not because Israelis are “giving them free money”. "However, 30 years later, the financial settlement continues to give the Israeli state what the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has called “a disproportionate influence on the collection of Palestinian fiscal revenue, leading to deficiencies in the structure and collection of customs duties resulting from direct and indirect importing into Palestine”.

I am not an expert. I may be wrong. But none of the sources I’m finding frame the issue as Israel withholding charity or bonus payments or anything similar - they all say Israel is holding Palestinian taxes. I only care about proof, so if you can provide it I’ll check it and if it outweighs the evidence I’ve found and linked I’ll change my mind.

Delta_V,

the sources I’m finding frame the issue

Yep. Reasoning out why its getting framed that way is an exercise I’ll leave up to the readers, but those same sources have confirmed the facts even if they are getting framed differently - the goods are taxed when they get imported into Israel, and the tax is paid by people in Israel. If those good are then exported from Israel to Gaza or the West Bank, then the governments of those places would be within their rights to tax it again. However, the 1994 deal kept that tax burden off the Palestinians while maintaining their access to Israeli logistics and infrastructure as opposed to importing goods from Egypt or Jordan, or shipping them into Gaza directly from the Mediterranean. The governments of Gaza and the West Bank became dependent on the free money, and that gave Israel leverage which it is now choosing to use.

GrymEdm, (edited )

Edit: Just to make sure I was doing my homework, I actually found a copy of the relevant agreement. Read Annex V point 1 (1st page) and Appendix V point 4 (2nd page). Both make it clear that Israel is collecting Palestinian taxes from Palestinians and on purchases made wholly in Palestine with a final destination inside Palestine. Given the very specific language of the agreement, I’m even more sure your assertion that it’s Israeli-sourced money is incorrect.

Your word alone is not enough, and in the absence of requested evidence I’m going to disregard it. I have found MANY sources going back years that state that Israel is collecting Palestinian taxes, as in money that Palestine would be collecting if it wasn’t occupied/was a self-governing nation. Israel also frequently withholds these taxes as a political bludgeon even though they are bound by their own signed agreements to pass that money along to Palestinian authorities. Israel even charges a 3% fee to do this for Palestine. I cannot find a single source that backs up your assertion that it’s actually Israel’s money transferred as an act of charity. Moreover, the idea that Israel is being unnecessarily kind clashes with decades of evidence about how Israel views, controls, and abuses Palestinians.

DarkNightoftheSoul,

Well, you see, if you steal something you sort of own it, and then give it back, that’s an act of charity. It’ makes perfect sense if you frame it that way.

Delta_V,

You don’t need to take my word for it. Its spelled out in the agreement that you’ve provided a link to, in Annex V.1.a.

One month after the signing of this Agreement - 50% of the revenues collected during this month from import taxes on goods, the final destination of which is the West Bank, and from excise on petroleum purchased by the Palestinian side for the West Bank.

The companies importing the goods into Israel pay the tax - that’s how excise taxes work. Israel agreed to give an amount of that tax revenue to the governments of Gaza and the West Bank, and that amount was calculated based on how much of those goods would later be exported from Israel to Gaza and the West Bank. Without the agreement, the governments of Gaza and the West Bank would be underfunded unless they levied their own import and excise taxes, which would have the effect of increasing prices for Palestinians.

Israel agreed to the deal that kept prices low for Palestinians and provided funding for the governments of Gaza and the West Bank at Israel’s expense. A cynic might believe they did so, at least in part, to cause dependency and to gain leverage rather than exclusively out of a spirit of humanitarianism, nevertheless they did agree to the deal and it did materially help the Palestinians and the governments of Gaza and the West Bank.

GrymEdm, (edited )

Those are some mental gymnastics, to try to tell me that when a Palestinian purchases fuel or other products in Palestine and the tax money goes to Israel that it’s not Palestinian taxes. That it’s Israeli money and is only returned (or sometimes not) because Israel is kind to Palestine. Or that when Israel collects the taxes on a Palestinian’s job located in the OPT, i.e. all work is done outside Israeli borders, that it’s not Israel collecting Palestinian taxes.

small44,

And some will still have the audacity to say that palestine is not colonized

GrymEdm, (edited )

So in addition to all the other forms of control, Israel collects and can restrict Palestinian taxes. Tell me again, Israeli propagandists, how Israel doesn’t actually occupy what is rightfully internationally known as Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

It’s not an Apartheid because anyone calling it an Apartheid is worse than Hitler - Ben Gvir.

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

The US will just send the money to Palestine instead of Israel now, right?

GrymEdm,

My guess is: not for several years, and then it will be part of an incredibly expensive reparations deal to rebuild what American munitions are currently destroying.

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

I don’t think the US believes in reparations.

Maeve,

DC did, once: www.snopes.com/fact-check/slave-owners-paid-reparations/

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

That was paid to the slave owners.

Maeve,

Correct.

Tryptaminev,

But don’t you see? The reparations will be done by American companies, owned by American shareholders. And they will put infrastructure into place operated by American companies. And American companies will help to uhh develop the countries resource extraction in particular Gas in the Mediterranean Sea.

Think of all the money that will go from your tax payments straight back to some rich Americans!

QuantumSpecter,

Personally, I don’t understand why the US government has continued to fun Israel when it’s clearly failed to become a disaster. They’ve spent over $250 Billion on Israel aid, and it’s failed.

Ab_intra,
@Ab_intra@lemmy.world avatar

Because there is strong lobbies in the US that has direct impact on elections. They are som of the strongest lobbies in the US and are jewish. If one party leader goes against them they will make it so that they lose the next election.

juicy,

It’s not just Jewish lobbyists. Arguably more important is the Zionist Christian fundamentalists in the US who think they are hastening the rapture and the apocalypse.

Buelldozer,
@Buelldozer@lemmy.today avatar

Arguably more important

I don’t think that’s arguable at all. The impact of the hundreds of millions of dollars that AIPAC has spent is by far and away the largest problem. In fact its quite likely that it’s their money that’s keeping the “Zionist Christians” on the boil and in office to begin with. Take away that delicious AIPAC money and the support of “Zionist Christians” will quickly dwindle.

juicy,

One of the very first proponents of Zionism was an American evangelist in the 1890’s named William Blackstone who circulated a petition in support of creating a Jewish state in Palestine. He collected signatures from “431 prominent citizens…” Including:

[F]inanciers John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Morgan, future President William McKinley, and Chief Justice Melville Fuller; many members of Congress; the editors of all major newspapers in those five cities, including the still-extant The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Washington Post; and a long list of university and seminary presidents, mayors, and leading businessmen.

May 16, 1916, Nathan Straus, at the behest of (later Supreme Court Justice) Louis Brandeis wrote Rev. Blackstone. “Mr. Brandeis is perfectly infatuated with the work that you have done along the lines of Zionism. It would have done your heart good to have heard him assert what a valuable contribution to the cause your document is. In fact he agrees with me that you are the Father of Zionism, as your work antedates Herzl".[3]

VinesNFluff,
@VinesNFluff@pawb.social avatar

(adding to the reasons people already cited: Israel is where the us launches its imperialist attacks on the middle east from, so they have a strategic reason to keep it around)

thejml,

If Congress allowed it, perhaps (they have to okay budgets). But Congress is full of GOP and center-right democrats that would rather give more money and weapons to Israel instead. So good luck with that.

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