Palestinian Authority (PA) chief negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened a new approach vis-a-vis Israel in the wake of about $127 million in taxes collected for the PA being frozen, a response to the PA joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) to sue the Jewish state.
Erekat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group’s executive committee, told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday that the withholding of taxes would not cause the PA to stop its unilateral ICC moves, which are themselves a breach of the 1993 Oslo Accords that created the PA.
Now that the “state of Palestine” – as the PA falsely signed itself – has joined numerous international institutions in breach of the Oslo Accords, Erekat declared that relations with Israel have reached a point of no return.
“It is impossible to leave the current situation, this is a new stage in every sense of the term, and even if the Israeli government will try to preserve the status quo through collective punishments and threats, or if it continues with settlements, dictating terms, assassinations, arrests, siege, curfew, then that’s proof that it is a state above the law,” Erekat said.
Erekat called on the Israeli government to pass and implement the 1949 Geneva Convention in Judea and Samaria, including eastern Jerusalem, and also Gaza, being as Israel is an “occupying ruler” according to the PA official.
“I don’t call to disband the Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinian Authority is the result of the struggle of the Palestinian people, and therefore either it will be the one who leads the Palestinian people from the occupation to independence, or it will call on the occupation authorities to take full responsibility,” he added.
Despite Erekat’s repeated claims of “occupation,” it is worth noting that the 2012 Levy Report conclusively proved that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria is legal under international law.
As a result of the tax freeze, the PA has been recruiting loans in addition to the financial aid it received from Saudi Arabia, and with this money it has been paying partial salaries for its public workers in recent days.
The PA is effectively propped up by American and Israeli funding, and it currently wallows in more than $4.8 billion in debt.
Much of that debt is to Israel, and there have been suggestions to use the frozen tax funds to pay off the over 1.4 billion shekels (over $360 million) in unpaid electric bills the PA owes Israel.
