Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called on the international community Sunday to stop donating money to the Palestinian Authority (PA) if that money goes to terrorists and their families.
Ayalon spoke at the United Nations, addressing a meeting of 27 nations that donate to the PA, which included representatives from global financial institutions and from the “Middle East Quartet”: the UN, U.S., European Union and Russia.
Ayalon warned that the PA uses money donated to it for supporting terror, transfers some of it to Hamas-ruled Gaza, and has also been aggressively trying to unilaterally establish an independent state through steps at the UN.
“It is more profitable today to be a Palestinian terrorist than to be a nurse or teacher,” he said.
“About 50% of the Authority’s budget is redirected toward Gaza, which is ruled by the Hamas terrorists,” the diplomat added. Ayalon asked the international community do everything possible to force Hamas to accept the Quartet’s three conditions: renunciation of violence, recognition of Israel and accepting the agreements signed in the past by Israel and the PLO.
He explained that the PA uses the funds it receives to evade negotiations for peace, and even takes action internationally in a way that is hostile to Israel and the peace process.
“The Palestinian Authority, which is unable to even collect property taxes, presents itself as a state,” he noted. “It is clear that the Authority does not pass the minimum requirements for statehood, and fails to match another criterion in the UN Charter – that of being a peace-seeking nation.”
Ayalon warned that Israel, too, may stop assisting the PA. “Israel did much this year to help the Authority recover from the financial crisis and took many steps to stabilize and strengthen Palestinian society,” he said, “but the more the Authority uses this assistance for funding terror, and continues the unilateral steps, the more this cooperation is in danger.”
He also accused the PA of purposely and deceitfully encouraging donors to contribute to projects within Area C, which is under Israeli control, without coordinating with Israel. This, he explained, is meant to drive wedges between Israel and the donor states.
