Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has warned that a series of sanctions approved last week by the security cabinet against Ramallah will lead to the collapse of the PA.
In a rare interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, published on Monday, Shtayyeh defended the move to the UN to ask the International Court of Justice to draft a legal opinion regarding Israel’s conduct in the West Bank and Gaza – a move that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an “extreme anti-Israel measure”.
Palestinians “have a right to complain to the world about the occupation,” he told Haaretz. He further accused Israel of “taking advantage of the occupation”.
The success of the Palestinian initiative in the United Nations General Assembly was cited by Israel’s new radical government as the reason for a series of sanctions against the PAincluding the seizure of NIS 139 million ($39 million) in tax revenue, which Israel collects on behalf of the PA and instead channels to Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism.
The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister called the measure “a new nail in the [Palestinian] The coffin of the Authority”, if “the international community, with emphasis on the administration in Washington and in the Arab countries”, did not intervene immediately.
He said the PA does not receive regular funding from the United States and the money transferred from the European Union is only for infrastructure.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), Tzachi Braverman (2nd L), National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (2R) and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman (R) during a cabinet meeting January 3, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Shtayyeh also criticized the new government, widely seen as the most right-wing in Israel, for isolating the PA.
“Previous Israeli governments have tried to end the prospect of a two-state solution, while the current government is also fighting the PA itself,” he charged.
Netanyahu has long boasted of his efforts to isolate the PA. While Shtayyeh has made similar repeated remarks in the past about the impending collapse of the PA, this time the Israeli government is made up of many lawmakers who openly support the PA’s shutdown, viewing it as an organization that incites terrorism. .
They do not share the view of the defense establishment, which stresses the importance of Israel’s security cooperation with the PA to prevent more extremist elements from taking power, and has pushed successive governments to prevent its dissolution.
“We read the situation very clearly,” Shtayyeh said. “Increasing construction in the settlements while disconnecting Jerusalem from the West Bank, annexing Area C territory and now crushing the Palestinian Authority – this is the plan implemented by the Israeli government.” Area C is approximately 60% of the West Bank with full Israeli security and civilian control, where all settlements are located and where Palestinian development is very limited.
In coalition agreements between Netanyahu’s Likud party and the far-right Religious Zionism party, the prime minister agreed to push ahead with the annexation of West Bank land. The pledge was vaguely worded, however, allowing Netanyahu to make no move on the issue if he so chooses.
Religious Zionism leader and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has long advocated for the annexation of large parts of the West Bank, the massive expansion of settlement construction, the legalization of illegal Israeli outposts and the demolition of constructions savage Palestinians in Area C.
At a press conference on Sunday, smotrich said he had “no interest” in the continued existence of the PA.
While prime minister in 2020, Netanyahu lobbied to annex some 30% of the West Bank, but later scrapped the plan under pressure from then-US President Donald Trump’s administration, concluding the place an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates. .
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference with bereaved families at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on January 8, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Responding to the claim that the Palestinian campaign at the UN was one-sided, Shtayyeh said: “The whole occupation is one-sided and the construction in [Jewish] unilateral settlements, everything is unilateral. But if we turn to the UN and the international community then it is false and unilateral?
The Palestinian leader also claimed that Israel was actively profiting from the conflict by charging a monthly commission of 30 million shekels ($8.6 million) deducted from payments for various services provided to the PA.
“Israel sells us everything, including sewage treatment, electricity and drinking water, and that’s basically the profits of the whole mechanism,” Shtayyeh said.
He said the Palestinian Authority would look to Arab League member states, the European Union and the Biden administration to ask for financial assistance and prevent Israel’s attempt “to crush the two-state solution”.
“Palestinians aren’t going anywhere,” he said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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