Israel Transfers Over $1 Billion in Taxes Collected for PA

Israel transferred more than $1 billion to the Palestinian Authority. The money is tax duties collected by Israel on behalf of the PA, and is usually turned over monthly. It makes up more than half of the PA’s budget.  The PA in recent months has been unable to pay the salaries of its tens of thousands of civil servants. “The Israeli government transfers all financial dues of the clearance to the account of the Palestinian Authority, amounting to three billion and 768 million shekels,” Hussein al-Sheikh, Palestinian civil affairs minister, tweeted on Wednesday. Israel usually deducts from total amount collected the sum that the PA pays to the families of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails or killed in the attacks. The Palestinian Authority announced last month that it would resume security and civil cooperation with Israel, which it had suspended in May after Israel announced plans to annex parts of the West Bank, territory it had captured during the 1967 war. The restoration of ties was enabled by a letter from Israel declaring a commitment to past agreements it had signed with the PA, al-Sheikh announced at the time.