ARAB AND WORLD

Mon 01 Jan 2024 9:13 am - Jerusalem Time

US Congress Committee: Biden must pressure “to transfer the Authority’s funds and expect the West Bank to catch fire.”

Experts and observers in Washington estimate that the presence or emergence of a wing in the US Congress has begun to pressure the Biden administration to transfer the Palestinian Authority’s financial dues suspended by the Israeli Ministry of Finance, a step that once again indicates the isolation experienced in the United States by the extremist fundamentalist crew in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

A letter continues to be signed by members of the US Senate calling on President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to transfer Palestinian funds held by Israel, contrary, of course, to the direction of the entity’s Finance Minister Smotrich.

As of Friday evening, more than ten members had signed a document in this context to express their concerns about the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank, with a particular focus on the lack of tax revenue transfers from Israel to the Palestinian Authority since October 7.


“Israel must take steps to address the growing instability in the West Bank,” including settler violence and deteriorating economic conditions, which “threatens the lives of innocent Palestinians,” the senators said in their letter, whose signature collection is being led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner. civilians and “risks opening an additional front to the conflict, at the great expense of Israeli and regional security.”

The letter said that after October, “economic conditions reduced the PA’s revenues by 80%, raising concerns about the PA’s continued ability to pay the salaries of members of the Palestinian security forces and public employees.”

The letter specifically raised concerns that the Israeli government's decision to withhold a significant portion of the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and the PA's refusal to accept the reduced funding offered by Israel "significantly exacerbates economic volatility in the West Bank."

It “directly threatens the economic situation of the security services in the West Bank.”

The letter warned that gaps in the wages of these employees could lead to the withdrawal of security forces or allow armed groups to “financially coerce these services,” which could create the possibility of war on two fronts in Gaza and the West Bank.

“We urge you and senior members of your administration to continue to prioritize the resumption of these transfers in any talks with the Israeli government as well as Palestinian Authority officials,” the letter read.

  “Israel’s commitment to immediately transfer the full revenue allocations to the Palestinian Authority is vital to stave off a significant increase in instability, and will represent a decisive step by Israel toward de-escalating tensions in the West Bank,” she said.

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US Congress Committee: Biden must pressure “to transfer the Authority’s funds and expect the West Bank to catch fire.”

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