Israel’s unlawful seizing of nearly $400 million of Palestinian funds in order to collectively punish Palestinians for seeking justice through joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) has had devastating consequences for millions of people and is itself a “war crime” prosecutable under the ICC, says Ramallah based Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq.
A new report - titled “The Unlawful Seizure of Palestinian Taxes: Israel’s Collective Punishment of a People” and released by Al-Haq on the day that Palestine becomes a member of the ICC - documents the results of Israel’s withholding of taxes paid by Palestinian individuals and businesses over three consecutive months and which should have been transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The tax payments were seized by Israel in response to Palestine’s accession to the ICC Statute in late December 2014 and amount to nearly three quarters of PA revenue for the period January to March 2015. This has lead to massive cuts to public sector salaries which have hit ordinary Palestinian families across the territory hard.
Summary
http://alhaq.org/advocacy/targets/accountability/81-general/908-israels-retaliatory-seizure-of-tax-a-war-crime-to-punish-palestinian-icc-membership
Full Report
http://alhaq.org/publications/publications-index/item/the-unlawful-seizure-of-palestinian-taxes-israel-s-collective-punishment-of-a-people
EI: Israeli seizure of Palestinian tax revenues is “collective punishment”
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-seizure-palestinian-tax-revenues-collective-punishment
No comments:
Post a Comment