RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority has agreed to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues collected by Israel months after declining them in protest, Palestinian officials said Friday.
The PA had refused to accept the funds because Israel was withholding an amount equal to what the Palestinians pay to the families of prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including slain militants. The cash-strapped PA now appears to be retreating in the face of an economic crisis.
Israel says the so-called Martyrs' Fund rewards and encourages violence, while the Palestinians view it as a way to provide for needy families affected by the decades-old conflict. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has long rejected violence in favor of peace talks, but the peace process has been moribund for the last decade. In a speech before the UN General Assembly last month, Abbas vowed to continue the payments.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, an aide to Abbas, tweeted Friday that he had met with Israel's finance minister the day before to discuss "all outstanding issues" and that committees would continue the negotiations on Sunday.
"The agreement was also on transferring a payment from the #PA's financial dues. The dispute (remains) over the salaries of the families of #prisoners and #martyrs. We are determined to pay their dues at all costs."
A spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred questions to the Finance Ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The transfers amount to some 600 million Israeli shekels (about $170 million) a month and are a key source of financing for the PA, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Two Palestinian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, say Israel will continue to withhold 42 million shekels ($12 million) a month, the amount it says goes to the Martyrs' Fund.
The decision back in February to reject the transfers has forced the PA to slash the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants in the West Bank, where unemployment is estimated at 20%.
Abbas, who has been in power for nearly 15 years, has seen his popularity plummet over his failure to bring about an independent state through peace talks with Israel, his loss of Gaza to the Islamic militant group Hamas and the general economic malaise.
In August, the Palestinian Authority said it had reached an agreement with Israel in which Israel would stop collecting about $60 million in monthly fuel taxes and allow the Palestinians to collect the funds directly.
The move was seen as a way of easing pressure on the Palestinian Authority, which works closely with Israel on security matters in the occupied territory.
Palestinians agree to accept funds transferred by Israel
Palestinians agree to accept funds transferred by Israel
- Palestinian officials say the Palestinian Authority has agreed to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues collected by Israel
- Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment
US presses missile issue as new Iran talks to open in Geneva
- New round of negotiations in Geneva comes after the US carried out a massive military build-up in the region
- Iran’s president reiterates Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons in line with policy
GENEVA: The United States and Iran are set to hold indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday aiming to strike a deal to avert fresh conflict and bring an end to weeks of threats.
The new round of negotiations in Geneva comes after the US carried out a massive military build-up in the region and President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if a deal is not reached.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of “pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions.”
He also claimed Tehran had “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
The Iranian foreign ministry called these claims “big lies.”
Iran president says ahead of US talks not seeking nuclear weapon ‘at all’
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that Tehran was not seeking nuclear weapons in line with the policy set by the country’s supreme leader.
“Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,” Pezeshkian said in a speech.
“Even if I wanted to move in that direction, I could not — from a doctrinal standpoint, I would not be permitted.” — AFP
The maximum range of Iran’s missiles is 2,000 kilometers according to what Tehran has publicly disclosed. However the US Congressional Research Service estimates they top out at about 3,000 kilometers — less than a third of the distance to the continental United States.
The dispute between the countries mostly revolves around Iran’s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful.
However the US has also been pushing to discuss Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as Tehran’s support for armed groups hostile toward Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran must also negotiate on its missile program, calling Tehran’s refusal to discuss ballistic weapons “a big, big problem” on the eve of the talks.
He followed up by saying “the president wants diplomatic solutions.”
Iran has taken anything beyond the nuclear issue off the negotiating table and has demanded that the US sanctions crippling its economy be part of any agreement.
‘Neither war nor peace’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday he had a “favorable outlook for the negotiations” that could finally “move beyond this ‘neither war nor peace’ situation.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation at the talks, has called them “a historic opportunity,” adding that a deal was “within reach.”
In a foreign ministry statement that followed a meeting with his Oman counterpart, Araghchi said the success of the US negotiations depend “on the seriousness of the other side and its avoidance of contradictory behavior and positions.”
The US will be represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The two countries held talks earlier this month in Oman, which is mediating the negotiations, then gathered for a second round in Geneva last week.
A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
In January, fresh tensions between the US and Iran emerged after Tehran engaged in a bloody crackdown on widespread protests that have posed one of the greatest challenges to the Islamic republic since its inception.
Trump has threatened several times to intervene to “help” the Iranian people.
Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that “the region seems to expect a war at this point.”
In January, there was “a big push by a number of Middle Eastern states to convince the US not to” strike Iran.
“But there’s a lot of apprehension at this point, because the expectation is that this time” a war would be “bigger” than the one in June.
Tehran residents who spoke to AFP were divided as to whether there would be renewed conflict.
Homemaker Tayebeh noted that Trump had “said that war would be very bad for Iran.”
“There would be famine and people would suffer a lot. People are suffering now, but at least with war, our fate might be clear,” the 60-year-old said.
