Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (fouth from right) at the donors conference in Brussels. (WAFA Images) 

BRUSSELS, Tuesday, April 30, 2019 (WAFA) - Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh today called on the donor countries meeting in Brussels to come out with recommendations condemning Israel‘s continuing violations of international law and signed agreements and to take measures to pressure it to free the withheld Palestinian funds.

Speaking at the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meeting in the Belgian capital Brussels, Shtayyeh called for pressure on Israel and to intervene to have international auditors monitor the bills Israel is illegally deducting from the Palestinian clearance funds.

He briefed the meeting on the Palestinian economic and political situation, stressing that the United States and Israel are waging a financial war on the Palestinians for political purpose, which is to force it to surrender and to sign on what does not meet the minimum of the Palestinian rights, which he said is impossible to do.

"During the past month and despite the suspension of medical referrals to Israeli hospitals, 20 million shekels ($5.5 million) were deducted, which shows the policy of piracy practiced by Israel," the Prime Minister said.

He added: "The Palestinian refusal to receive the clearing funds deducted from it the salaries of prisoners and martyrs, and despite the suffocating crisis, has political, nationalist and legal reasons," adding that "accepting the incomplete funds means recognition of the Israeli claim that these funds are paid to finance terrorism, which will bring legal consequences to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian banking system."

He pointed out that the structural problems that the Palestinian economy is suffering from are due to a colonial dependency relationship that Israel has imposed with its measures over the past years, stressing that the government is trying to change this situation by taking serious steps to gradually break away from this abnormal relationship.

On the internal Palestinian affairs, the Prime Minister affirmed his government‘s immediate readiness to visit Gaza and to move forward on reconciliation based on the fact that ending the division was the first item in the president‘s letter of designation, stressing the need to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

He called on the international community to pressure Israel to allow Palestinian elections in Jerusalem to go along with the West Bank and Gaza in order to enable his government to achieve the goals it came for.

"Some blame us for rejecting the so-called deal of the century before even seeing it. Yet, we have seen measures that go beyond any script. The United States shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington and dried up the financial resources of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). It has also moved its embassy to Jerusalem and recognized it as the capital of Israel," he said.

He pointed out that when he became prime minister, the mood in the street was high on expectation. He said this mood should not be allowed to collapse as a result of the complicated political and financial situation of the Palestinian Authority.

The Prime Minister said that the PLO‘s Central Council is going to convene next month and it will review the details of the political process as a whole in light of Israel‘s destruction of the possibility of implementing the two-state solution with its settlements, annexation of land, siege of Gaza and other measures.

M.K.