Israel intends to transfer 800 million shekels ($228 million) to the Palestinian Authority on Sunday, to help in cash-strapped Ramallah's efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak, Israel Hayom has learned.
The funds will be transferred as an advanced payment on taxes Israeli collects on behalf of the Palestinians under a mechanism up as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
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The monthly tally of these taxes averages on $100 million.
In 2018, the Israeli parliament passed legislation seeking to counter the Palestinian Authority's "pay-for-slay" policy of paying salaries to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and the families of dead terrorists, stipulating that Israel must deduct these payments from the taxes it collects on Ramallah's behalf.
The Palestinian Authority's terrorist stipends scheme amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars a year. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to maintain payments even if it meant bankrupting the Palestinian Authority.
The state informed the High Court of Justice of its plan in response to a petition filed by a group of bereaved parents seeking to prevent the funds' transfer.
In the state's response, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon explained that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed him to make a loan available to the Palestinian Authority to the tune of NIS 800 million, allocate in several phases.
The move has been coordinated with Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat.
The Lavi organization for good governance, which assisted the families in filing the High Court petition, denounced the plan to aid Ramallah.
"Transferring close to NIS 1 billion to the Palestinian Authority for it to pay terrorists' salaries is unacceptable. The Palestinian Authority pays terrorists huge salaries while whining about its financial difficulties. Transferring a billion shekels to the Palestinian Authority constitutes blatant disregard of law and a gross affront to the families of terror victims."
