Istanbul / Zein Khalil / Anadolu

The Israeli Knesset on Wednesday passed the first reading of a bill allowing the freezing of additional funds from the Palestinian Authority's clearance revenues, a move that would increase financial pressure on it.

Haaretz newspaper reported: 'The Knesset today (Wednesday) approved in its first reading a bill that allows freezing additional funds belonging to the Palestinian Authority.'

According to the proposal submitted by MK Moshe Bessel of the Likud party, an amount equivalent to the funds the PA transferred to Gaza over the previous year will be frozen annually, the same source said.

The newspaper indicated that the bill stipulates that these funds 'will be used to pay compensation to victims of terrorist acts originating from Gaza.'

Twelve Knesset members out of 120 voted in favor of the bill, with no opposition recorded. It will be returned to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for further discussion before being brought to a vote in the second and third readings to become a binding law.

Haaretz noted that Israel is withholding about 14 billion shekels ($4.6 billion) of Palestinian treasury revenues from customs duties on imports destined for Palestinians, known as 'clearance funds,' on the pretext that these funds 'are used to encourage and support terrorism.'

It pointed out that while the confiscated revenues accumulate monthly in the Israeli treasury, the Ramallah government is forced to take additional austerity measures to cope with the continuous deterioration over the past three years.

According to the newspaper, the confiscated amount has been accumulating since 2019, with about 400 million shekels ($131.41 million) added monthly.

It said that the Israeli army's Central Command chief, Avi Blot, 'recently warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the failure to transfer PA funds is one of the factors that could lead to escalation in the West Bank.'

It added that another major factor in the economic deterioration is the ban imposed by the Israeli government on Palestinians working inside Israel, although some reports indicated that Israeli security agencies, except the police, support lifting this ban.

Clearance funds are taxes and customs that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods entering the occupied Palestinian territories, then transfers monthly to the Palestinian Finance Ministry, according to the 1994 Paris Protocol.

These funds constitute about 56% of total Palestinian public revenues, making any deduction or withholding directly affect the government's ability to pay salaries, provide public services, and meet its obligations to the private sector and banks.

Since 2019, Israel decided to deduct amounts from clearance funds under the pretext that the PA pays allowances to families of prisoners and martyrs, later expanding the policy of deductions and withholding, worsening the PA's financial crisis and rendering it unable to pay full salaries to its employees.

In 1948, Israel was established on Palestinian lands occupied by armed Zionist groups, which committed massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Then in 1967, it occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories, and it refuses to withdraw and allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, contrary to international legitimacy resolutions.