Arab League urges members to ease PA financial crisis

16 January 2013, 15:43 (GMT+04:00)

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Arab foreign ministers agreed Sunday to form a delegation to press member states to fulfill their financial obligations to the Palestinian Authority, a statement said Maan reported.

The delegation will be comprised of PA prime minister Salam Fayyad, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi, the Iraqi foreign minister, and Lebanon's foreign minister, Adnan Mansour.

The Arab League called on the international community to force Israel to release PA tax revenues, a statement from the Cairo meeting added.

In December, Arab states agreed to provide the Palestinian Authority with a $100 million monthly "financial safety net" to help President Mahmoud Abbas's government cope with an economic crisis after the United Nations granted de facto statehood to Palestine.

Since early December, Israel has withheld around $100 million in monthly tax revenue it collects on behalf of the PA as punishment for the UN's acceptance of Palestine as a non-member state.