JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel for the second straight has frozen tax revenue that it collects for the Palestinian Authority.
The decision not to transfer the money, which is used to pay public sector employees, was reported Wednesday by The Jerusalem Post. The freeze is in response to the P.A.’s decision to join the International Criminal Court and other international conventions and treaties.
On Thursday, P.A. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah called on the European Union to pressure Israel to transfer the funds during a meeting with an EU representative, Ynet reported.
The total amount withheld so far is about $200 million.
P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas signed the requests to join the ICC and other international conventions at the end of December, after the United Nations Security Council failed to pass a Palestinian statehood proposal. Israel, which has frozen P.A. tax revenues before as a retaliatory measure, withheld tax revenues days after the signings.
