Israel’s ultranationalist finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced in May that he would be witholding tax revenues earmarked for Palestine. The decision was made in response to Spain, Ireland and Norway’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
He has also made deductions to these revenues, and has threatened to cut off Palestinian banks from their Israeli counterparts. This is a move that would halt all foreign financial transactions and the import of many essential goods into the Palestinian territories.
These developments come at a time when the Palestinian Authority, the government body that exercises partial control over the occupied West Bank, is already grappling with a severe financial crisis.
