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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel to screen Palestinian funds |
| 2006-01-29 |
| ISRAEL will keep back customs revenues owed to the Palestinians until it is satisfied they will not end up in the hands of "terrorists" after the election victory of Hamas, a senior official said Sunday. Every month, Israel repays around 50 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in reimbursement for customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports. But, speaking after the weekly cabinet, a senior official told journalists that all the money would be screened in the aftermath of the win for Hamas. Israel had been due to transfer this month's tranche of funds to the Palestinians on Wednesday. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed late Sunday that Israel would never transfer any funds to the PA if there was even the slightest chance they could be used for harming Israelis. "We are not ready in any way to allow a situation in which money transferred by the government of Israel will somehow end up in the control of murderous elements who want to harm Israeli citizens," Olmert said at a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Islamist movement has carried out dozens of suicide attacks against Israel in the last five years while its militants in turn have been targeted and killed by Israeli military. "Of course the money is not ours, but if there's any doubt that this money will reach terror organisations then it's obvious that we will not transfer it," the official source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It will take time to verify that the money is not at risk of reaching the terrorists. In such an instance, Israel would freeze the transfer." Israel would also "demand guarantees about the final destination of these funds and before making any decision, we will take into account the position of the international community," the official added. The spluttering Palestinian economy, which has stalled during the past five years of Middle East violence, is heavily dependent on the Israeli receipts and on international aid. In yet another financial blow to the Palestinians, the German Chancellor said late Sunday that unless Hamas changed its stance towards Israel and the peace process, it would be "unthinkable" for the European Union to continue supplying funds to such a Palestinian leadership. "We must wait to see how Hamas acts and if it doesn't change its positions, it would be unthinkable that such an authority be directly supported by European Union funds," she said. The 25-nation bloc is the largest financial donor to the Palestinian Authority and also one of the four sponsors of the stalled Mideast peace roadmap. Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing oppostion Likud party, earlier demanded the government freeze the transfer of funds in the wake of the election result. "As a first step, we should stop transferring funds to the Palestinians," he told public radio. "There has to be a limit to the absurd. There can be no question of financing an entity whose declared aim is our destruction," he added. Netanyahu also called for Palestinians to be barred from entering Israel and to expand the route of the West Bank separation barrier, which already cuts into the occupied territory, in order to incorporate more Jewish settlements. Netanyahu is expected to exploit the landslide victory won by Hamas in last week's Palestinian general election to bolster his party's campaign for Israel's own elections on March 28. Polls have shown that Olmert's Kadima party is likely to emerge as the largest party in the Israeli election, but observers believe that lead could easily be whittled away if the situation on the ground deteriorates. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |