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Palestine, Israel ministers meet to tackle unsettled financial issues

Xinhua, May 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

Palestinian Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara said on Thursday that he met with his Israeli counterpart on Wednesday to discuss unsettled financial matters.

The Ministry of Finance said in a press statement that the meeting was part of ordinary joint meetings that serve "to resolve financial matters in line with the Palestinian interest."

According to the statement, the meeting "came as part of an follow-up to the international donors meeting" held in Brussels in April.

Bishara said the meeting discussed issues related to "missing clearance bills not received by Palestinians and the money held by Israel that should be transferred to the Palestinian treasury."

The meeting also tackled the issue of keeping the only West Bank border crossing, known as Al-Karama by Palestinians, Allenby by Israelis and King Hussein by Jordanians, open around the clock in order to facilitate the movement and travel of Palestinians into and out of the West Bank.

Bishara stressed the importance of continuing work by clearance (tax revenues collected by Israel) between Palestinian and Israeli banks.

The statement said the two parties reviewed accounting and auditing and the provision of accurate information to the Palestinian side.

Israel has cut off nearly three percent of overall transferred taxes and other costs for supplying electricity, oil and other services to the Palestinians. Endit