UN’s Ban Ki-moon Tells Israel’s Netanyahu to Transfer Funds to Palestinians

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to end the freeze on transferring about $100 million a month that Israel collects in the form of tax and customs revenue for the Palestinian Authority. His government imposed the freeze in retaliation for the Palestinians seeking recognition of statehood and full membership at the UN. It was then reiterated when the Palestinians became full members of UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency. The loss of funding is critical to the PA which is cash-poor and needs the money in order to pay its employees. Ban told Netanyahu in a telephone conversation that Israel is violating international law by withholding the money. By transferring the money and ending building in areas Israel acquired in the 1967 war, it would be helping "to create an environment conducive for the resumption of direct negotiations," according to Ban. The secretary general also praised Israel’s approval of UN building projects in the Gaza Strip and asked Netanyahu to do more to lift the remaining embargo of goods that has been in place since Hamas forcibly seized control of Gaza from Fatah. Netanyahu also took a call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who also implored the Israeli leader to transfer the funds. Sources indicate Netanyahu will not have an answer until after Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud ‘Abbas meets in Cairo with Hamas leader Khaled Mashal on Thursday. Another wrinkle in the issue of American funding for the Palestinians has emerged in the form of a demand by two Congressmen for an inquiry into whether the PA is funding the building of housing for terrorists released from Israeli prisons in the recent swap for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.