Bennett Obstructs Gantz-Abbas Meeting

Protests in Tel Aviv against the government's decision to impose restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic (AFP)
Protests in Tel Aviv against the government's decision to impose restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic (AFP)
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Bennett Obstructs Gantz-Abbas Meeting

Protests in Tel Aviv against the government's decision to impose restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic (AFP)
Protests in Tel Aviv against the government's decision to impose restrictions to control the coronavirus pandemic (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is preventing Defense Minister Benny Gantz from meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli television Channel 12 reported.

The channel said that Gantz has spoken to Abbas twice since the current government's formation and agreed with him to meet soon. But Bennett disagreed, leaving Gantz disappointed.

It quoted him as saying: "The meeting with Abbas, in these circumstances, is of great importance in promoting and strengthening security cooperation."

Sources close to Bennett revealed that officials in the Yamina party expressed their fears that the resumption of direct dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, and other demands of the Biden administration regarding the Palestinians, would lead to the collapse of the government coalition.

They told Israel Hayom newspaper that party officials expect the US administration to present several demands after approving the general budget next November.

The sources added that Washington accepted the Israeli government's request to wait until the budget is approved.

They indicated that passing the draft budget in the Knesset will be the most critical test of the stability of the cabinet. If passed, the government will complete its mandate, and then it will be easy to take unpopular decisions, such as resuming relations with the PA.

The eight parties of the government coalition agreed that it should focus on economic and social issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, rather than being preoccupied with major political issues.

Back then, Bennet said he will not meet the demands of the right-wing parties in the government, including the Yamina party, to annex the Jordan Valley and impose Israeli sovereignty over the settlements.

In addition, the goals of the left parties, such as Labor and Meretz, and that of the Islamic movement to freeze settlement construction and relaunch negotiations based on a two-state solution will not be achieved, according to Bennet.

According to government sources, the US administration does not want to impose de facto measures that sabotage the two-state solution.

They explained that decisions to expand settlements in the West Bank by establishing new neighborhoods or converting outposts into permanent settlements are de facto measures.

Last Friday, US media published statements by a senior official in the State Department in Washington, commenting on the government's intention to approve 2,300 residential homes in settlements and about 900 Palestinian homes throughout the West Bank.

The US official considered these projects a violation of the two-state solution and called on the Israeli and Palestinian sides to refrain from unilateral decisions and measures entirely.



Israel to Use Withheld Palestinian Tax Income to Pay Electric Co Debt

Smoke rises from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, during clashes between militants and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Smoke rises from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, during clashes between militants and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Israel to Use Withheld Palestinian Tax Income to Pay Electric Co Debt

Smoke rises from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, during clashes between militants and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Smoke rises from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, during clashes between militants and the Palestinian Authority's security forces, inside the Jenin refugee camp, on January 12, 2025. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Israel plans to use tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to pay the PA's nearly 2 billion shekel ($544 million) debt to state-run Israel Electric Co (IEC), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.

Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the occupied West Bank on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war in Gaza, Smotrich has withheld sums totaling 800 million shekels earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza.

Those frozen funds are held in Norway and, he said at Sunday's cabinet meeting, would instead be used to pay debt owed to the IEC of 1.9 billion shekels, Reuters reported.

"The procedure was implemented after several anti-Israeli actions and included Norway's unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," Smotrich told cabinet ministers.

"The PA's debt to IEC resulted in high loans and interest rates, as well as damage to IEC's credit, which were ultimately rolled over to the citizens of Israel."

The Palestinian Finance Ministry said it had agreed for Norway to release a portion of funds from an account held since last January with 1.5 billion shekels, calling money in the account "a punitive measure linked to the government’s financial support for Gaza.”

The ministry said as part of the deal, 767 million shekels of the Norwegian-held funds will pay Israeli fuel companies for weekly fuel purchases over the coming months. A similar amount will be used to settle electricity-related debts owed by Palestinian distribution companies to IEC.

Smotrich has been opposed to sending funds to the PA, which uses the money to pay public sector wages. He accuses the PA of supporting the Oct. 7 attack in Israel led by Hamas, which controlled Gaza. The PA is currently paying 50-60% of salaries.

Israel also deducts funds equal to the total amount of so-called martyr payments, which the PA pays to families of militants and civilians killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.

The Palestinian finance ministry said 2.1 billion shekels remain withheld by Israel, bringing the total withheld funds to over 3.6 billion shekels as of 2024.

Israel, it said, began deducting an average of 275 million shekels monthly from its tax revenues in October 2023, equivalent to the government’s monthly allocations for Gaza.

"This has exacerbated the financial crisis, as the government continues to transfer these allocations directly to the accounts of public servants in Gaza," the ministry said.

It added it was working with international partners to secure the release of these funds as soon as possible.