The new Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, approved this Friday a series of punitive measures against the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in response to pressure it is putting on the UN against the Israeli occupation.
According to the executive branch’s communiqué, the measure is a response to the Palestinians, who are pressuring the UN’s highest judicial body to rule on Israeli occupation of various Palestinian territories.
The measures underscore the ultra-nationalist Israeli government’s “tough” approach to the Palestinians, promised at a time when violence is on the rise in the occupied territories.
The new package comes a week after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution calling on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to intervene and rule on the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government’s Security Directorate, which includes a small group of ministers with “key portfolios” reporting directly to the prime minister, believes the Palestinian Authority’s request to the UN constitutes “a decision aimed at waging political and legal war against the state.” Israel.”
“The current government will not sit idly by in the face of this war and will respond as needed,” the Israeli executive said in a statement.
Among the measures approved by a government security service full of far-right and religiously conservative allies of Netanyahu is one that allows Israel to withhold $39 million (€36.8 million) intended for the Palestinian Authority by transferring that amount to a compensation program. for the families of the Israeli victims of the attack by Palestinian militants.
Another measure is Israel’s decision to further reduce the funds it normally transfers to the Palestinian Authority by an amount equal to the amount the Palestinian executive paid in 2022 to the families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including fighters involved in attacks against Israelis.
The Palestinian leadership sees the payments as intended to create needed social security, while Israel says the so-called Martyrs’ Fund encourages violence.
Funds held by Israel threaten to exacerbate the financial problems of the Palestinian Authority, warns the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
The State Security Service also directly attacked the Palestinian authorities, stressing that this would end the privileges of high-ranking Palestinian Authority officials “who are waging a political and legal war against Israel.”
Several senior Administration officials are issued Israeli permits that allow them to enter and exit the occupied West Bank unhindered, unlike ordinary Palestinians.
Other announced measures are centered on the West Bank, which Israel captured during the 1967 war. After decades of failed peace talks, Israel controlled territory that the Palestinians have long claimed as part of the state they want to create.
Israel’s new far-right government has pledged to prioritize settlement expansion and legalize illegally built outposts. Israel has already built dozens of Jewish settlements, which are home to some 500,000 Israelis who live alongside some 2.5 million Palestinians.
The Executive Security Authority also said it would halt Palestinian construction in the so-called “Area C”, 60% of the West Bank, where Israel already exercises full control under the interim peace agreements.
According to the UN, “Area C” includes settlements as well as rural areas, which are home to about 300,000 Palestinians.
At the meeting, the Israeli government also said it would “act,” without specifying how, against organizations in the West Bank that “promote terrorist or any hostile activity,” including groups that carry out “political and legal actions against Israel.” whose actions are masquerading as humanitarian activities.”
It is still unclear which groups could be targeted by these actions by the Israeli government.
Just over a year ago, Israel declared six major organizations protecting and promoting human rights in Palestine to be terrorist organizations that invaded and shut down their headquarters last summer, drawing widespread condemnation from the international community.
Palestinian organizations denied the allegations.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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