World

AL pledges $100mn to Palestinians, rejects US ‘deal’

April 22, 2019

CAIRO — The Arab League has pledged to pay $100 million a month to the Palestinian Authority to plug the gap left when Israel blocked tax transfers earlier in the year.

“We confirm that Arab countries will support the Palestinian state’s budget... (to) resist the political and financial pressure it faces,” the League said Sunday following a meeting in Cairo.

Israel collects taxes on behalf of the PA, but withheld $138 million in transfers in February over Palestinian payments to political prisoners jailed for attacks against Israelis.

The Arab League’s move comes as the Trump administration prepares to unveil a much-touted “Deal of the Century” for peace between the Palestinians and Israel in the coming months.

The Palestinian leadership, which has boycotted Washington over a series of moves including recognizing the bitterly disputed city of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, says it can no longer trust the United States as a broker.

The Arab League said the deal “will not succeed in achieving long-lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East”.

The peace plan is being developed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose close ties to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have heightened Palestinian suspicions.

Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The foreign ministers of the Arab League underscored the need to implement the 2002 Arab peace initiative in its entirety, international resolution and the land-for-peace concept, refusing any deal that does not adhere to these references.

Addressing the extraordinary foreign ministers meeting, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said “the Arabs need to be engaging actively at this critical time.”

The Palestinians reject the deal and demand Israel fully withdraw from all occupied territories, he added.

American officials have said last week that the deal could be unveiled after the holy month of Ramadan, which ends in June.

President Abbas reiterated Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not believe in peace”.

Claiming that Netanyahu could not find a Palestinian partner, Abbas offered him a real peace based on international legitimacy.

He also accused Israel of entirely breaching international resolutions including Oslo Accords and Paris Economic Protocol since 1947.

He also criticized the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The peace plan is being developed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose close ties to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have heightened Palestinian suspicions. — Agencies


April 22, 2019
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