RAMALLAH, December 10, 2024 (WAFA) – During its weekly session held Tuesday in Ramallah, the Palestinian Cabinet underscored intensified legal and international efforts to nullify Israeli occupation’s land confiscation measures, which have seized 46,000 dunams since the beginning of the year, including 24,000 dunams of state land.
As part of these efforts, the Government has enlisted eight law firms to defend the rights of Palestinian people in nearly 3,000 cases pending before Israeli courts. Last year alone, according to the Colonization & Wall Resistance Commission, an unprecedented 50,000 dunams were confiscated.
In addition, the Government continues to address demolition, confiscation, and seizure cases affecting thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem through contracts with over 10 specialized law firms.
Under direct instructions from President Mahmoud Abbas, the Government is working tirelessly to rally further international support to stop Israeli occupation’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people and their resources, ensure the unimpeded and unhindered entry of humanitarian and relief aid to Gaza, and implement the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion on ending the 'unlawful' Israeli occupation and its consequences.
The Cabinet also expressed grave concern over ongoing statements by Israeli officials publicly calling for pushing out and displacing the Palestinian people, the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, and the resumption of settlement activities, warning of the dangerous implications of these calls.
In addition, it discussed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Finance and the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), aimed at restructuring payment arrangements for electricity purchases and resolving outstanding debts. This agreement is a critical step toward stopping Israel’s illegal deductions of electricity-related debts owed by JDECO from Palestinian clearance revenues.
The agreement aligns with the Government’s broader strategy to address the challenges posed by net lending, which have burdened public finances, strained local councils, and intensified financial pressures resulting from Israel's deductions from clearance funds.
Israeli illegal deductions from Palestinian clearance revenues, under the pretext of electricity debts owed by Palestinian distribution companies and local councils, have amounted to approximately 1.3 billion shekels in 2024 alone and around 12.2 billion shekels since 2012.
Combined with other deductions—accounting for nearly 65% of clearance revenues—these measures have severely hampered the Government’s ability to meet financial obligations to employees and the private sector, inflicting substantial harm on the Palestinian economy.
The Cabinet approved a governance plan for 54 non-ministerial government institutions, marking progress in enhancing the governance of 13 institutions over the past eight months.
The Government continues its efforts in governance to streamline operations, improve service quality, and rationalize expenditures as part of its comprehensive reform agenda.
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