RAMALLAH / Awad al-Rajoub / ANADOLU

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas renewed on Thursday his call to activate the Arab financial safety net, amid the financial crisis facing the Palestinian Authority.

This came during his meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy in the Jordanian capital Amman, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

During the meeting, they reviewed the latest political and field developments in the Palestinian territories, and ways to enhance coordination and cooperation between the State of Palestine and the Arab League.

The two sides also discussed confronting challenges targeting Palestinian national rights, foremost among them ending the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, allowing aid entry, starting the recovery and reconstruction phase, and Israeli withdrawal from the sector.

The meeting also addressed stopping settlement expansion and settler attacks in the West Bank.

Abbas reiterated the 'importance of activating the Arab financial safety net in these difficult and exceptional circumstances, to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.'

The Arab financial safety net was approved in 2010, stipulating the provision of monthly support worth $100 million to the Palestinian government during times of financial crises.

On more than one occasion, Palestinians have called on the Arab League to activate the financial safety net, but their requests have not been implemented.

The Palestinian president also urged the necessity of working to release Palestinian clearance funds held by Israel.

Tax revenues (clearance funds) are taxes and customs duties collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods entering the occupied territories, before being transferred monthly to the Palestinian Ministry of Finance under the Paris Economic Protocol signed in 1994.

Clearance funds constitute about 56% of total Palestinian public revenues. Starting in 2019, Israel decided to deduct amounts from the clearance funds under various pretexts, then stopped transferring them entirely about a year ago, until the total withheld funds exceeded $5 billion, plunging the Authority into a financial crisis that has left it unable to pay its employees' salaries in full.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the Arab League affirmed the League's continued full support for the State of Palestine and its leadership, and its standing with the Palestinian people in facing current challenges, and continuing to work with Arab states and the international community to support efforts aimed at achieving a just and comprehensive peace, based on international legitimacy resolutions.