Palestine loses $285m in revenues due to Israel accords
The Palestinian Authority is being deprived of $285m in revenues annually, the World Bank said on Monday, attributing these losses to arrangements outlined by the Paris Protocol, the Oslo Accord-era agreement that determined the economic relationship between Israel and the Palestinians.
The report, which also said Israel is withholding an additional $669m in accumulated Palestinian revenue, will be presented to the Ad Hoc Liaison committee (AHLC) of donor states to the PA on Tuesday in Brussels.
This number includes pension contributions from Palestinian workers inside Israel, as well as salary deductions for their health and social benefits, which are supposed to be transferred to a dedicated fund that the PA has yet to establish, the bank said.
These lost revenues could reduce the PA's 2016 fiscal deficit to below $1 billion, and more than half the expected shortfall in financing, said Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s country director for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in a statement.