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Palestinians say no economic plans to substitute political process

Xinhua, February 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Palestinian finance minister said Monday that the Palestinians will not accept any Israeli economic plans to substitute the political process in light of the stalled peace track.

The minister's remarks were made as response to Israeli reports over an Israeli plan to offer facilitations to Palestinians to help boost the Palestinian economy.

The Israeli public radio reported that Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has prepared an economic plan to help Palestinians in coordination with the United States.

The plan reportedly is to increase workers permits for Palestinians to enter Israel for working in construction, and the number of Palestinian academics in the field of high-tech as well as physicians to join Israeli hospitals.

According to the radio station, Kahlon held several meetings in the past weeks with Palestinian officials, to discuss the plan.

Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara confirmed his meeting with Israeli counterpart Moshe Kahlon. He told Xinhua that the meetings focused on the regulation of transferring the tax revenues that Israel collects to the Palestinian side and not to coordinate the reported economic plan.

Bishara said he demanded limiting tax evasion cases, transferring the tax money timely, re-organizing the Palestinian income money, tax refunds and tax clearance, in addition to re-organizing the petrol payments.

Under the Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993, the latter collects taxes on behalf of Palestinians and then transfers them to the Palestinian finance ministry. Palestinian tax revenues are estimated at over 1 billion U.S. dollars annually.

Israel deducts 3 percent of the total value of the taxes it collects for Palestinians in return for electricity and petrol and other services to the Palestinians.

Those developments come amidst a wave of tension that has broke out between Palestinians and Israel since last October, killing 181 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and 31 Israelis. Endit