EU won’t give PA aid if they keep refusing collected taxes
‘ No stopgap extra funding should be expected’
The EU turned down requests from Ramallah for additional aid, as long as the Palestinians refuse to accept their own taxes because they are collected by Israel.
“No stopgap extra funding should be expected... if they do not accept their own money,” an EU diplomat said on Wednesday.
The PA will, however, continue to get the aid it usually receives from the EU.
“There is absolutely no change in the position of the EU when it comes to our cooperation and assistance given to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority,” EU Foreign Affairs Spokesman Peter Stano said in a press conference on Thursday. “The EU will continue to be the largest international supporter of the Palestinians and a firm supporter of the PA.”
At the same time, Stano said, “we are encouraging them to again accept the transfers of their own tax revenues because this is their own money, but this is where it stops.”
All imports to the PA go through Israeli checkpoints, and Israel collects VAT and tariffs for the PA. Those funds are the largest source of income for the PA. Israel also collects income tax and health insurance funds for Palestinians who work for Israelis.
In May, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he is stopping cooperation with Israel, in anticipation of Israel applying sovereignty to parts of the West Bank in accordance with the Trump peace plan.
Those plans were officially suspended in August, when Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced a normalization agreement, but the PA still has not accepted its own tax money from Israel. Israel has since amassed over NIS 2.5 billion ($ 737.4 million) that the PA refuses to take.
EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called Abbas last
Wednesday to tell him that he will not be getting any more aid money in light of the situation, Walla News reported.
Borrell also called on Abbas to renew cooperation with Israel.
The PA is currently in a deep economic crisis, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, and has had difficulty paying its employees.
The EU, Germany, the UK and Norway told the Palestinians to take the tax money Israel collected, in light of the fact that Israel stopped its plan to apply its laws in the West Bank.
The Palestinians said they would only renew cooperation if there is a written commitment from Israel not to annex territory, Walla reported.