Brussels / Anadolu

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Musa Kulaklıkaya called for providing financial and institutional support to the Palestinian Authority during the second meeting of the donors' group for Palestine.

In his speech at the meeting held in Brussels on Monday, Kulaklıkaya expressed his gratitude to the European Commission and the Palestinian Authority for keeping the Palestinian issue at the forefront of the international agenda.

He noted that ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and implementing the two-state solution have become an urgent necessity.

Kulaklıkaya pointed out that the Palestinian economy is on the verge of collapse due to escalating Israeli sanctions and measures that amount to economic strangulation.

He explained that the short-term financial stability of the Palestinian Authority depends on the immediate release of withheld tax revenues.

Kulaklıkaya affirmed that the common goal of successive Israeli governments is 'to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to subjugate the Palestinian people.'

He stated that efforts should focus on providing support to the Palestinian Authority through financial, technical, and humanitarian assistance.

Kulaklıkaya stressed that Turkey will continue to support Palestine through capacity-building projects and development aid programs.

He mentioned that all joint efforts must ultimately focus on establishing an independent, sovereign, and geographically contiguous Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He continued by calling on the international community to act: 'The international community must move beyond the stage of statements. We must support the Palestinian Authority financially and institutionally.'

According to the Palestinian government, clearance revenues constitute about 68 percent of its income, while the value of funds withheld by Israel has exceeded $6 billion.

Clearance funds are taxes and customs that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods entering the occupied territories, and transfers to it monthly under the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol.

Since 2019, Israel has been deducting amounts from clearance funds, before stopping transfers entirely over a year ago, which exacerbated the Palestinian government's financial crisis and hampered its ability to pay full salaries to its employees.

In addition, Israeli violations and attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank continue.

From October 8, 2023, to June 29, attacks by the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank have resulted in the deaths of 1,179 Palestinians and injuries to around 13,000, in addition to the arrest of about 24,000, according to data from the Palestinian Government Media Center.