By Ted Belman
Under US pressure Israel has agreed to transfer $1.85 billion is customs duty collected on imported goods intended for the Palestinians And the PA has agreed that Israel could with hold close to 500 shekels to apply to the money owed to Israel electric Company.
There was no mention of any agreement regarding the ICC. Originally Israel with held the money as punishment for the PA joining. Is there an agreement here too that the PA won’t initiate complaints to the ICC?
ISRAEL HAYOM in explaining the deal, wrote:
An Israeli security official said the move to resume the transfer of tax revenues to the PA was one of a number of significant steps Israel has take recently to improve the well-being of the Palestinian population both in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
“We are not fighting against the citizens of the PA,” the official said. “It is important to us that the residents of the PA live in comfort and dignity and we are open to any suggestions as to how to promote economic growth there.”
This disturbs me greatly. The people in Areas A and B elect their own government and are totally self governed. Their government chooses to incite against Israel. The way I see it, is that we have no responsibility for the people. Their government does. The people should be made to suffer the consequences of their governments decisions. We should not be improving their lot without a cessation of their governments policies.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
I must be drunk who wrote that! Tongue in cheek?
Actually Abbas needs Israel to keep Hamas from killing him or chasing him out of Ramallah into the crazy world of the Arab countries which are falling like dominoes.
The trouble with this status quo game is that we do not annex Area C or do any large building such as in E1.
As long as they pay electricity, water, etc, and stop playing stupid games for courtiers, or paying salaries to murderers, it’s fine to pump billions of Shekels into their hands. That is our currency and they will use it to buy here.
I said that???? OK I’ll check myself in… 🙂
Israel is maintaining a status quo in A & B which it deems to its advantage based on what the alternatives are. when the Pals make a move, BB shows that he is doing something….. but is he really against the move? the drama always plays out the same cycle.
I think the “incitement” is the way that Abbas maintains an image of “resistance”. I think the ICC tax drama is also a concoction. Every time the taxes are withheld they end up being released for…..what?? the pals get to feel that thye are doing something, getting somewhere and that Abbas is a right wing resistance leader….. the right wing gets the same with BB pals join ICC and threaten, BB withholds then releases. the street of both sides gets the drama that keeps them basically in the status quo with small steps. Pals get fake state, ICC…. the right gets fake E1 and fake levy commission. Meanwhile the real drama is why these fake dramas are staged and the underlying understandings and agreements reflected by facts on the ground….
the facts on the ground show a PA/GCC/ Egypt cooperating with israel against iranian proxies and hamas. there is relatively little trouble on the west bank compared to the war agianst hamas. this is the result of the cooperation. In my view both Abbas and BB do not want major changes now. they are cooperating in the background while making noise in the foreground. This explains BB’s non invasion of gaza twice, BB release of prisoners, BB obstruction of settlement, BB allowing muslim harassment on the mount. why did Israel bring the pal police back near Jerusalem: the security cooperation works to quell violence… the rhetoric is the fig leaf. both sides are mainly cooperating right now against hamas.
the longer the status quo exists and the two sides move to the middle, the more likely it is to be accepted as the de facto solution.