Palestinian salaries delayed as Israel blocks funds

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 8 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority has delayed paying its workers this month after Israel withheld tax funds in anger over Palestinian attempts to block upgraded European Union-Israeli ties, officials said on Sunday.

A senior Palestinian official said the aid-dependent Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank had expected to receive tax revenues on June 2 that Israel collects on its behalf and had planned to pay salaries two days later.

"As of today, we have not received the tax money, so we failed to pay the salaries," the official said.

A senior Israeli official said the Israeli Finance Ministry had since approved the transfer but would deduct about a quarter of the 250 million shekel ($75 million) payment to cover Palestinian Authority debts to Israeli utilities.

The delay and the deduction, the Israeli official said, came in response to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's lobbying of the European Union against upgrading its relations with Israel.

http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSL08350435

The EU has quite a dilemma on it's hands considering the hoops Turkey has been jumping though and is still jumping for EU membership and the fact that no matter what it does because it is not "culturally European" ie it is a majority Muslim country it may still not be allowed to become a member. Is Israel any more "culturally European" then Turkey?

What will be "interesting" is how Israel will parse the Copenhagen political criteria for membership or will it be willing to settle for an upgrade but not full membership.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_criteria

The EU got lots of new (Eastern European) members recently, and is very unlikely to wish to expand significantly for a while.

And no, Israel isn't any more culturally Europaean than Turkey, despite some of the stereotypes about its being a 'Europaean colony'. I think Turkey will become an EU member long before Israel does.

This is about an upgrade of Israel's relations with the EU - not full membership.

considering the billions they have gotten over the years.

but in order for that to happen, they have to stop having terrorism as the national goal, and begin to use their brains and education in ways that will help the people.

Want to try again after reading the article I posted?

It seems that characterization is what the poster is commenting on.

Kind of a pity as I'd like to think people read entire articles and don't just stop after they hit the word *aid* if it appears in the first few sentences and don't go any further...

What do you think of the poster's characterisation of the PA in the West Bank as having terrorism as a national goal?

The poster probably was talking about Hamas and not the PA in the comment you cited.

In any case, the tax revenue has been transferred to the PA and the salaries have been paid.

You did know that Israel receives 30% of all U.S. foreign aid right?

Do you disagree with that assessment?

to the billions in aid Israel recieves. Yes, Billions when taken into acct. the actual taxpayer $ and U.S. military assistance etc. etc. etc.

OF COURSE REUTERS isn't going to point out the aid Israel gets. That isn't the topic of this article.

I'm not sure what your point is here.

I don't think that Israel is aid-dependent in the same way that the Palestinians are.

Egypt, which gets billions of taxpayer money as well, is closer to being aid-dependent than Israel is.

In any case, the amount of aid the US gives both of those countries combined pales in comparison the amount of money we have spent and continue to spend in Iraq.

But to get back to the topic of the article, Israel ought to release the funds as the Palestinians depend on them to pay those salaries.

Europe was costing us at times during the cold war 150 billion a year. Japan and S Korea were at times 30 to 40 billion a year each. We also have our blood on the line there and had to spill it also. Israel is a drop in the bucket compared to that and US troops are not defending them.

The rival Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip ruled by the militant group Hamas and boycotted by international aid donors, has paid the May salaries of its 20,000 staff. Hamas obtains its funds through smuggled cash, some of it originating from Iran and from ad-hoc taxation of Gaza residents.

But Israel also transfers funds............

Israel tells Palestinians tax revenue transferred

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
Associated Press Writer

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli officials said they have transferred millions of dollars in delayed tax revenue to the Palestinian authority, money that will help pay thousands of workers who have not received their May wages, the Palestinian prime minister said Monday.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said he was told the money was sent Saturday and that he expected it to come through by Tuesday.

Israel had agreed to transfer the tax revenue - about $74 million dollars - at the end of last month in an agreement between both sides. It will go toward the salaries of about 150,000 Palestinian civil servants who have not received their May wages.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=home&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

even collecting the tax funds in the first place?

That's when Israel and the PLO negotiated economic agreements, and part of that was that Israel collects the tax on goods entering the West Bank and Gaza on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to the PA...


http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Gaza-Jericho%20Agreement%20Annex%20IV%20-%20Economic%20Protoco
(that linky looks a bit dodgy with the ampersands so if it doesn't work go to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs site and search for Economic protocol)

Yes, there would be such positivity in the region if it weren't for those damned textbooks.

I'm sure all the negativity in the region is due to PA gov't workers getting paid a week late.

Or maybe it's not just the week-long delay on releasing tax revenues, or the portrayal of Israel in Palestinian textbooks.

Maybe it is a myriad of factors, from suicide bombings of Israeli bus riders and restaurant patrons to the humiliation of Palestinians at checkpoints by Israeli soldiers, to the firing of rockets and mortars at Israeli kindergartens, to the "targetted assassinations" that end up killing Palestinian children, and on and on and on.

Yes, the delayed release of the funds creates more hostility towards Israel - so does including excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Palestinian textbooks.

Neither alone is responsible for the enmity, but both represent individual examples of actions that make things worse rather than better.

Do you analyze other conflicts with assymmetric power similarly?

Did you think that black south Africans were compelled to convince White South Africans of their right to basic freedoms and self-deteermination?

I'm continually amazed at the way people look at this conflict. The only thing that is equal about this conflict, is that both sides are equally born with a right to basic human rights and self-determination.

Do you believe that the situation of Palestinians is equally -- or mostly -- their fault?

I have not found it instructive to try to draw parallels between this conflict and others throughout history as so many crucial elements are so dissimilar as to render those analogies useless.

In my view, the most important thing we can do moving forward is to take steps that attempt to eliminate the animosity between the two sides, rather than foment it.

Each side has the potential to take those kinds of steps, but neither side seems willing to do so at this point.

Both sides need to try and work towards a solution, or the vicious circle will just continue.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian government workers received their wages almost a week late on Tuesday after Israel transferred tax revenues it held back over Palestinian attempts to block upgraded European-Israeli ties.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1016181820080610