Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Wednesday said that taking the issue of Israel's withholding of Palestinian tax revenues to the United Nations Security Council was a good idea, dpa reported.
The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization said Wednesday after a meeting chaired by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that it might ask the Security Council "to intervene against Israel's collective punishment policy and violation of international law."
Israel decided at the beginning of this month not to transfer more than 100 million dollars in customs and tax revenues it normally collects at its ports on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) on goods imported by Palestinians and destined to the Palestinian territories.
It cited the reconciliation agreement between the PA and the Islamist Hamas movement as the reason for its decision.
The PA, which normally gets the money at the beginning of every month, uses it to pay salaries to over 150,000 public employees. The Israeli decision made it impossible for the PA to pay April salaries so far.
Fayyad appealed to the international community for help in getting Israel to release the money.
He said the PA was already facing a very difficult financial situation even before Israel withheld the April transfers. He warned of a dire situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip if Israel does not release the money soon.
He said that the PA has been facing a 30-million-dollar deficit every month so far this year, and had a 100-million-dollar outstanding deficit from last year.
At the same time, the PA pays more than 200 million dollars every month in salaries and financial assistance to impoverished and most needy Palestinian families.
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