The sanctions on Palestine that Israel has decided to impose in response to the Palestinians' appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) could ultimately lead to the complete collapse of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh expressed this concern in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz published on Monday.
In his opinion, Israel's decision to transfer approximately 139 million shekels (about $40 million) from PNA funds to victims of terrorism and to freeze taxes equal to the payments the Palestinian Authority makes for prisoners convicted of terrorism by Israel "will be another nail in the Palestinian National Authority's coffin, unless there is immediate intervention by the international community, namely the Washington administration and the Arab countries."
Otherwise, says Shtayyeh, these sanctions will "quickly lead to the collapse" of the Palestinian Authority. "Previous Israeli governments worked to eliminate the two-state solution, and the current government is fighting the Palestinian administration itself," the Palestinian prime minister claims.
Referring to the Palestinians' decision to go to the ICC for a legal assessment of Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories, Shtayyeh expressed the view that the people of Palestine have every right to act in this way. "The Palestinian people are struggling under a brutal occupation. We have the right to complain and tell the world that we are suffering. Israel wants to prevent even the most nonviolent ways of fighting the occupation," says the Palestinian prime minister.
On Friday, Israel's security cabinet approved a response to the Palestinians' appeal to the International Criminal Court. In particular, in addition to the financial measures mentioned above, there will be a moratorium on Palestinian construction plans in Area C (about 62% of the West Bank, under full Israeli control), the Israeli prime minister's office said. As an additional measure, "benefits to high-ranking [Palestinian] representatives engaged in political and legal warfare against Israel will be denied," the office said.
Palestine and the appeal to the ICC
On November 11, 2022, the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee approved a Palestinian initiative to seek a legal opinion from the ICC on the prolonged occupation of the West Bank. On December 30, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of an appeal to the ICC on the Palestinian issue. Representatives of 87 nations spoke in favor of the resolution. 26 countries, including Israel and the US, voted against it, and 53 others abstained.
On December 31, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel does not consider the results of the vote at the UN General Assembly on the appeal to the ICC on the Palestinian question as binding for itself.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Tim Sullivan (UNCTAD)/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS