‘Israel’ seizes $40 million from Palestinian tax funds
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- ‘Israel’ seizes about $40 million from Palestinian clearance revenues, citing compensation rulings.
- The move deepens a financial crisis as billions of dollars in Palestinian funds remain withheld.
‘Israel’ announced that what is known as the ‘Israeli’ Enforcement and Collection Authority has seized around $40 million, from Palestinian tax clearance revenues in recent weeks.
The funds were taken under claims they were linked to payments made to families of settlers killed or injured in resistance operations carried out by Palestinians. The money was distributed across 124 cases, opened on the basis of ‘Israeli’ court rulings ordering civil and punitive compensation, according to an official statement.
What are clearance revenues
Clearance revenues, known as "maqassa funds", are taxes and customs duties collected by ‘Israel’ on goods destined for Palestinian markets. Under existing arrangements, these funds are supposed to be transferred monthly to the Palestinian Authority and represent its main source of income.
‘Israel’ currently withholds around $4 billion in clearance revenues, a move that has sharply intensified the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis. Unpaid dues to public and private sector employees have risen to more than $4.26 billion, according to Palestinian figures.
Claims over prisoner payments
‘Israel’ claimed the seizure was justified by allegations linking the Palestinian Authority to stipends for Palestinian political prisoners. The statement acknowledged that the Authority has cut a large portion of these payments and no longer transfers salaries to prisoners directly. Instead, cases were shifted to a social welfare body known as the Tamkeen Foundation, which focuses on social cases and marginalized groups.
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The statement said the $40 million were transferred from the ‘Israeli’ Finance Ministry, which collects the clearance revenues, to the enforcement directorate before being distributed to the various cases.
Cases cited by ‘Israel’
Part of the seized funds was allocated to rulings related to an operation on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem in 2001 that killed eleven people. A court ruling issued in 2024 ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to pay compensation of $2.7 million, according to the statement.
Other transfers were linked to a 2002 bombing attributed by ‘Israel’ to the "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades", which reportedly killed 10 people, and to a 2002 shooting in the Karmi Tzur settlement that killed a couple and a reserve soldier and wounded five others.
The statement also cited compensation files related to the 2002 bombing of the Moment Cafe in Jerusalem, which killed 11 and injured 65, the 2002 bombing of bus number 32 south of Jerusalem that killed 18 and injured 74, and the 2003 bombing of the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem that killed seven and injured 57.
Additional cases included the 2004 bombing of bus number 19 in Jerusalem, which killed eleven and injured 44, a shooting in Tel Aviv in 2016 that killed four and injured 21, and incidents in northern West Bank areas in 2020.
The seized funds also covered cases linked to ramming and shooting incidents between 2018 and 2023, including a ramming in Jerusalem, a shooting near the Ofra settlement, and a shooting at a gas station near the Eli settlement in 2023.
Deepening financial pressure
Palestinian officials have repeatedly said that withholding and seizing clearance revenues amounts to collective punishment and violates existing agreements and international law. The continued deductions have left the Palestinian Authority struggling to pay salaries and maintain basic services.
The latest seizure adds to mounting pressure on an already fragile financial system, as billions of dollars in Palestinian funds remain under ‘Israeli’ control.
