RAMALLAH, Thursday, February 07, 2019 (WAFA) – Outgoing Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said on Thursday that his caretaker government is ready for all scenarios if Israel decides to cut money from the tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods entering through its ports.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new Ministry of Education building in Ramallah, Hamdallah, who last week rendered his government’s resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas and who was asked to remain as caretaker until a new government is formed, said that his government has worked over the last few years to rationalize spending while increasing revenues and the national product to face a decline by 71% in foreign aid.

“My government’s work focused in the last years on overcoming difficulties and financial and political crises,” he said. “We directed our work towards maximizing revenues and local resources, while consolidating active and effective institutions.”

Hamdallah said Israel has fought Palestinian education in occupied Jerusalem by targeting schools in the city including those run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees and worked to incorporate them into the Israeli education system, vowing to fight all Israeli measures in the occupied city.

“No matter how difficult things become, our main concern is to provide education to every part of our homeland,” he said.

“Israel does not have sovereignty. It is an occupying power and the international community has the obligation to put a stop to its crimes, hold it accountable and end its occupation of our land and resources,” he said.

Israel is in the process of cutting millions of dollar from the Palestinian tax revenues, a main source of income for the Palestinian Authority and which amount to over $100 million every month, for various pretexts including lawsuits in its courts against the Palestinian Authority by collaborates or as a punishment for paying allowances for families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel for their resistance activity. 

M.K.