The Israeli government decided on Sunday to cut all fuel supplies to the Palestinian Authority and said that the P.A have to pay $35 million-dept before fuel supplies to the Palestinian territories could be resumed. The step comes while Israel is still refusing to transfer $110 million of tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority (P.A).
An Israeli source reported that the Israeli Dor Alon Fuel Company, the exclusive provider pf fuel to the Palestinian territories stopped last month all fuel supplies to the P.A for several days after it received a check which bounced; the sum of the check was 103 million Dollars.
Later on, the company resumed the fuel supplies to the P.A after the European Union transferred money to the Authority.
Recently, the P.A gave the Israeli company another $35 million check which also bounced and the Alon Dror company decided to cut the fuel supplies.
Israeli officials didn’t say how long the stoppage would last or if Israel would deduct the sum from Palestinian revenue taxes return estimated at over a hundred million dollars.
Israel is withholding and refusing to transfer to the new Palestinian government led by Hamas; Palestinian official denounced the step, describing it as “blackmail”.
Palestinian government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, stated on Sunday that “Israeli is stealing the money on broad daylight”.
“Let them give us our money, our tax revenue and we will pay whatever they owe us”, Hamad said, “They cannot just take out money and stop the fuel supplies”.
The Israeli procedure comes in coherence with an American decision to bar any fund transfer to a Palestinian government headed by Hamas.
The United states said that Hamas should recognize Israel’s right to exist, and to “renounce violence”, Hamas in return said that it cannot recognize a state that is still occupying the Palestinian people and does not recognize their right of freedom and independence.
The P.A is still unable to transfer salaries to its employees or provide the residents with the needed basic services.
Palestinian Finance Minister, Omar Abdul-Raziq, said that the P.A is suffering a strict financial crises and is unable to pay salaries or provide services to the residents.
