Monday Nov. 14, 2011 3:14 PM (EST+7)
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JERUSALEM, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet decided on Monday to continue to withhold the transfer of tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, a measure it imposed two weeks ago after the Palestinians won full membership of the U.N. cultural agency.
A government official said cabinet ministers voted narrowly in favor of continuing the freeze on the handover of revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
The money, which includes duties on goods being imported to the Palestinian territories, amounts to about $100 million each month.
There is no change on the Israeli position of a temporary withholding of funds, a second Israeli government official told Reuters.
The measure was imposed on Nov. 1, a day after UNESCO granted full membership to the Palestinians, a move opposed by the United States and Israel as part of the Palestinians' effort to achieve statehood unilaterally in the absence of peace talks, frozen for more than a year.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official said Monday's decision, made while international envoys were in the region trying to restart peace talks, was an indication Israel is continuing its political and economic war against the authority. (Writing by Ori Lewis)
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