The US is considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to fund the US president’s post-war plan for Gaza, Reuters reported, quoting five sources familiar with the matter.
The Trump administration has not yet decided whether to make a formal request to Israel, said three of the sources, officials with knowledge of US deliberations with Israel.
The two other sources, Palestinians with knowledge of the deliberations, said that under the proposal, a portion of the tax money would go to a US-backed transitional government for Gaza and other funds to the PA if it makes reforms.
The PA puts the amount of tax being withheld at $5 billion.
The prospect of the Palestinians’ own tax money being repurposed towards Trump’s Gaza rebuilding plan, over which their government has had no input, could further sideline the Palestinian Authority even as Israel’s withholding of the funds begets a financial crisis in the occupied West Bank.
The PA exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank but has not had any sway over Gaza since it was exiled from the territory after a brief civil war with Palestinian resistance group Hamas in 2007.
Trump’s plan for Gaza, shattered after more than two years of war, has been held up by a refusal by Hamas to lay down their weapons and by continued Israeli attacks in Gaza that have undermined an October ceasefire.
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‘Money held in a bank does nothing’
The Board of Peace declined to comment on whether a proposal to use Palestinian tax money was under consideration.
A Board official said it had asked all parties to leverage resources to support Trump’s rebuild plan, estimated to cost $70 billion.
“That includes the Palestinian Authority and Israel. There is no doubt that money held in a bank does nothing to further the President’s 20-Point Plan,” the official said.
That appeared to refer to the PA tax revenue that Israel has withheld from the body in a long-running dispute over payments it makes to Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
