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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 30, 2002

Israel to Pay Palestinian Back Taxes

Israel planned to hand over $15 million to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority on Monday, the first of three installments of tax revenue that has been withheld from Palestinians for much of the past 22 months of fighting, both sides said.


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Israel planned to hand over $15 million to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority on Monday, the first of three installments of tax revenue that has been withheld from Palestinians for much of the past 22 months of fighting, both sides said.

Israel had been demanding international supervision of the money to ensure it wouldn't be used to fund Palestinian militants, but agreed to place the cash under the responsibility of the new Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayed.

Meanwhile, tensions escalated Sunday after Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinians in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron, leaving a 14-year-old Palestinian girl dead in what Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer called a "Jewish riot."

Monday's planned money transfer is a small fraction of the estimated $600 million in taxes and customs revenues that Israel has collected on behalf of the Palestinians. Israel stopped handing over the money after the fighting broke out in September 2000.

In another move aimed at reducing hostilities, Ben-Eliezer said he would meet this week with Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razek Yehiyeh to discuss security issues based on proposals by President Bush.

Also, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon ordered the army and security services to ease some restrictions on Palestinian civilians. The moves including shortening curfews, lifting some roadblocks, and raising the number of Palestinians allowed to enter Israel for work to 12,000, a statement from Sharon's office said.

Previously, the government had said it would issue 7,000 work permits, although it said the number could reach 70,000. Before the conflict, some 125,000 Palestinians crossed into Israel daily for work.

Sharon also named his dovish foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to be in charge of aiding the Palestinians. Peres is in France and was to meet with President Jaques Chirac on Monday.

Sources: Agencuies






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