To compensate for the financial retaliation imposed by Israel on the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League pledged on Sunday to pay $ 100 million a month to the Palestinian state.

The Arab League pledged on Sunday to pay 100 million dollars (or 89 million euros) per month to the Palestinian Authority to compensate for the recent financial retaliation by Israel.

"We confirm that the Arab countries will support the Palestinian state budget ... by providing it with a financial safety net (...) in order to withstand the political and financial pressure it faces," he said. the Arab League in a statement Sunday night.

Major financial retaliation by Israel

On February 17, following the murder and rape of an Israeli woman by a Palestinian, the Israeli government cracked down on the Authority. He announced that he would freeze every month about $ 10 million (about 9 million euros) due to the Authority. The sum is subtracted from the VAT and the tariffs that Israel levies on products imported by the Palestinians and that it is supposed to pay regularly to the Authority, under the peace agreements.

The sum represents only a portion of the taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Authority, but according to the Israeli government corresponds to the amount of allowances paid to families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed for carrying out anti-Israeli attacks. The Authority spoke of theft and decided to cross all the VAT and customs duties it must recover.

New rejection of an American peace plan

During the "extraordinary" meeting of the Arab League in Cairo on Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his rejection of a future peace plan for the US administration. "This plan will fail to achieve a lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East," said the statement of the Pan Arab organization. Palestinians say the Trump administration is leaning towards Israel, which in their view discredits the United States in its historic role as mediator.

In 2018, the United States also cut more than 500 million dollars (440 million euros) in aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), to various assistance programs or, to a lesser extent, directly to the budget of the Palestinian Authority. Efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peace have been stalled since the failure of the Barack Obama administration in 2014.