France, Norway, Spain and Saudi Arabia are working to rally countries around an emergency aid package to prevent the Palestinian Authority’s collapse while Israel withholds hundreds of millions of dollars that belong to Ramallah, according to a letter to potential donor states obtained by The Times of Israel.
For four consecutive months, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been refusing to transfer clearance revenues that Israel collects on the PA’s behalf. These funds make up the majority of Ramallah’s budget and their withholding has brought the PA to brink of collapse.
The letter to potential donor countries who will be attending a French-Saudi two-state solution conference at the UN on Monday says that participants are expected to demand Israel release the Palestinian funds.
However, organizers appear resigned to the possibility that Jerusalem will not budge on the issue and therefore have set a fundraising goal of $200 million for each of the next six months to cover the PA’s operating expenses.
“Support to the recovery of the private sector and the functioning of essential commercial actors, including Palestinian banks, is also needed,” the letter says.
A European diplomat tells The Times of Israel that the four participating countries have already agreed to donate $200 million a month to the PA for six months, but are hoping that other countries help share the burden.
“The Palestinian Authority is engaged in implementing an ambitious reform agenda, aiming at structural transformations that lay the foundation for a modern, transparent, and accountable State,” say the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, France, Norway and Spain, as they seek to justify another international fundraising campaign for Ramallah.
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