After Israel halts funds transfer, Palestinians pay partial salaries
Palestinian civil servants paid only 60% for December after Israel froze transfer of $100 million a month in taxes it collects for the PA over Abbas' decision to turn to ICC.
The Palestinian unity government has paid only partial salaries to its 153,000 civil servants after Israel's freezing of the transfer of taxes it collects for the Palestinians, a West Bank official said on Tuesday.
Abd El Rahman Bayatneh, a spokesman for the Palestinian finance ministry, said the government paid civil servants only 60 percent of their salaries for December.
Israel froze more than $100 million a month in taxes after the Palestinians moved to join the International Criminal Court, which could expose Israel to war crimes charges.
Bayatneh said some 70 percent of the Palestinian Authority's income comes from these taxes.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the Arab League to provide a "safety net" of $100 million a month to cover tax revenues withheld by Israel, but the Palestinians only received a "very small amount," Bayatneh said.
On Thursday, UN Chief Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to immediately resume transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.
"We call on Israel to immediately resume the transfer of tax revenues," UN deputy political affairs chief Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen told the UN Security Council. "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now entering unchartered territory, which, lamentably, seems to have dashed any immediate hope for a return to peace talks."
During a meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Thursday, Abbas also called for the formation of a committee to launch a new bid seeking a UN Security Council resolution on ending the Israel's control of the West Bank, a month after the council rejected a similar initiative. The ICC bid is part of a wider strategy aimed at bringing international pressure to bear on Israel.
Chief Palestinian delegate Riyad Mansour said his government was undeterred.
"In spite of this setback, we will continue to approach the Security Council," he said without elaborating. Mansour called the withholding of Palestinian tax revenues a "blatant act of reprisal and theft of Palestinian funds" and condemned Israel's "rabid settlement colonization."
Israel has condemned Palestinian moves, with Ambassador Ron Prosor accusing Palestinians of "running away from negotiations" and obstructing the peace process.
The ICC move paves the way for the court to take jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Palestinian lands and investigate the conduct of Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Neither Israel nor the United States is an ICC member.
The United States has suggested some $400 million in aid could now be in jeopardy. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said the United States, an Israel ally, had been reaching out to both parties to try to reduce tensions and find a path forward.
"We continue to oppose unilateral actions by both sides that we view as detrimental to the cause of peace," Power told the Security Council, describing Palestinian moves to join the ICC and other treaties as "counter-productive."
Reuters contributed to this story.
