Abbas threatens to take frozen tax money case to ICC
Palestinian Authority (PA) chief, Mahmoud Abbas, has threatened to resort to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the Israeli regime's refusal to entirely release hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues owed to the PA.
Abbas' announcement on Sunday came after Tel Aviv froze the monthly transfer of tax money it collects on behalf of the PA as a punitive measure after Palestine started efforts to join the ICC in early January.
"Now we have a new file to take to the ICC, first there was the [summer] war in Gaza, then there was the settlements and now the Palestinian leadership is considering presenting this issue to the court in due time," Abbas said in a speech, adding, "They said they were going to send the money and in the end they did, but a third of it was deducted - why?"
Abbas said the Israeli regime must fully pay back its debt to the Palestinian administration.
"We will not take the money until we get all of it: either you give us the full amount or we go to the ICC," said Abbas.
Under international pressure, the Israeli regime on Friday released the monthly funds of nearly USD 127 million in customs duties, which account for two-thirds of PA’s annual budget, excluding foreign aid.
Under a US-sponsored economic accord signed in 1994, Tel Aviv transfers to the PA tens of millions of dollars each month in customs duties levied on products destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports.
Although the Israeli regime has imposed similar restrictions on numerous occasions, it has rarely lasted more than one or two months, except in 2006 when candidates affiliated with the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement won a landslide victory in Palestinian legislative elections and Israel froze the funds for six months.
MFB/KA/SS
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