Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon signed an order to cut NIS 42 million (about $ 11.5 million) a month from tax revenues that Israel has transferred to the Palestinian Authority this year, the Israeli daily Ha´aretz reported Monday.
According to the newspaper, the reduction comes in accordance with the law approved by the Israeli government coalition last summer, as salies continue to be paid by the Palestinian Authority "to the prisoners and their families." She added that the reduction will be made every month during 2019, totaling 504 million shekels (about 138 million dollars), according to the report of the security institution submitted to the Israeli cabinet about a month ago. According to the paper, the amount transferred to the Palestinians this month was reduced by 150 million shekels ($ 41 million), with 550 million shekels (150 million dollars) being transferred to the Palestinian Authority, after a reduction of about 30 percent of the total revenues Taxes for the benefit of the Authority. It is noted that the tax revenue collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance is on the goods received from abroad. The monthly average value is NIS 700 million (approximately $ 188 million), of which Tel Aviv deducts 3% instead of collection. On February 17, the Israeli government decided to hold NIS 502 million (about $ 138 million) of Palestinian clearing funds in response to the Palestinian Authority´s financial allocations to the editors and families of detainees in Israeli jails and the families of the martyrs. Under the Paris Economic Protocol signed between Palestine and the Israeli occupation in 1994, the latter collects taxes on goods passing through its crossings into the Palestinian territories and transfers them monthly to the government in Ramallah. The President of the Palestinian Authority, has announced in the past few days, that the Authority will not receive tax funds in the event of deducting the occupation any amounts of money from them.
