The Palestinian Authority has received 407 million shekels ($114 million) from Israel with more funds on the way soon following a deal to release frozen tax funds, the Norwegian government said on Thursday.
Norway on Feb. 18 said it had agreed to assist in the transfer of funds earmarked for the Palestinian Authority (PA) that were collected by Israel, providing crucial funding to the Western-backed entity.
“This money is absolutely necessary to prevent the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, to ensure that the Palestinians receive vital services, and that teachers and health workers are paid,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.
More transfers were expected in “the coming days”, he added without specifying the exact timing or the amount.
The PA exercises limited self-governance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Under interim peace accords reached in the 1990s, Israel’s finance ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA. But a dispute broke out over payments in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas from Gaza, a territory ruled by the Palestinian Islamist group.
Israel collects taxes on goods being imported to the Palestinian territories via Israeli territory, taking a 3% commission before transferring the rest to the PA. Israel controls all the frontiers of the Palestinian territories, bar the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Under the agreed solution, Norway serves as an intermediary, holding tax revenue equal to the portion that Israel estimates would have gone to Gaza, while the PA would receive the rest, the Nordic country has said.
Oslo also received, on Monday, the share of the money that it would hold on behalf of the PA. A statement from the Norwegian government did not say how much that share was worth.
The foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
(Reuters)