Bethlehem – Maan Report – Since the start of the war on Gaza last October, Israel has begun imposing financial sanctions on the Palestinian National Authority. Last week, these sanctions amounted to preventing the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues, as well as threatening to lift the immunity of Israeli banks in their dealings with banks. Palestinian.

The sanctions package announced by the Israeli occupation Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, came in response to the recognition of the State of Palestine by Norway, Spain, and Ireland, threatening to impose more sanctions if international recognition of Palestine continues.

Israeli media reported that these measures could lead to a major financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority. On the other hand, Israel faces great pressure and warnings from many countries around the world to discourage it from the measures it seeks to implement.

The World Bank has warned of an exacerbation of the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is suffering from, a
s unprecedented numbers of inflation and poverty rates have emerged, with expectations of a deficit amounting to $1.2 billion in the next few months, after a severe deterioration in the past three months due to the sharp decline in revenue transfers. The clearing from Israel to the Palestinian Authority, in addition to a massive decline in economic activity, which led to the Palestinian economy losing nearly half a million jobs, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

Abdul Karim: There is no collapse of power and the banking system

Economic analyst Abdel Karim Lamaa said that the Israeli threats, even if implemented, will not lead to the collapse of the Authority and the banking system, stressing that the information being circulated about the collapse of banks and the Palestinian banking system has been exaggerated and exaggerated, which has created a state of fear and panic among citizens.

Nasr Abdel Karim ruled out the financial collapse of the Authority, but he did not rule out the efforts of Israel
and the American administration to try to end the Palestinian entity and replace it with another, adding that the collapse would not be complete, but would take the form of a stifling economic crisis.

Abdel Karim believes that the Palestinian Authority is capable of getting out of its crisis if Israel stops dealing between Palestinian and Israeli banks as a punitive measure against it, by dealing with international banks, and replacing the shekel currency with other currencies such as the US dollar and the Jordanian dinar.

Abdel Karim pointed out that what is harmed in this case is the economic relations between the two parties that are conducted in the shekel currency, and not in other currencies, such as trade, workers’ wages, and clearing, but other currencies will keep banks able to communicate with all countries of the world except the shekel, especially since they have a ‘SWIFT code.’ ‘It enables you to conduct banking transactions with ease, so there is no need for exaggeration.

Serious reforms are
required

Abdul Karim firmly believes that the world is concerned with the existence and survival of the Palestinian Authority because it constitutes Palestinian political legitimacy, but at the same time he considers that the Authority has the responsibility to carry out real reforms that end the state of corruption and laxity that has begun to envelop its institutions in order to gain the world’s credibility.

The Palestinian Authority must declare a state of emergency, according to Abdel Karim, ‘open a comprehensive dialogue and take difficult decisions even if they affect people’s rights, especially the power centers that defend their interests.’

He added, “Institutions must be merged instead of splitting up institutions, the basic needs for services that citizens receive under all circumstances must be identified, and the government must direct budgets and liquidity to these services.”

There is no doubt that Israel’s reckless decisions aim to weaken the authority and perhaps get rid of it because it is
responsible for the decisions issued by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, but who controls whether or not the authority remains, the United States and Europe, who believe that the preservation of the authority and its replacement is an Israeli, regional and international interest.’ .

Source: Maan News Agency