Israel keeping $128 million from Palestinians

Haarsetz, Israel -     Israel has decided to take revenge on the Palestinian Authority for daring to apply for membership in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. After a round of consultations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on the first part of the punishment: freezing the transfer of some 500 million shekels ($128 million) in tax revenues that Israel has collected on the PA’s behalf and that belong to the Palestinians. Senior government officials were quick to announce that this was only the first step, and that “a broader, more significant response will come later.”

The Palestinians turned to the ICC out of an understandable despair. After Israel brought down the peace talks by failing to keep its promise to release prisoners, the Palestinians were left with two options in their battle against the occupation: either violence, or recourse with the international community. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chose the latter.

After Israel and the United States thwarted his attempt to pass a UN Security Council resolution setting a deadline for ending the occupation, Abbas was left with the choice of either applying to the ICC or throwing up his hands and giving up the path of nonviolent struggle. Abbas chose the former.

The Palestinian application to the ICC is uncomfortable for Israel. But those who fear it now should have considered the implications before they pushed Abbas into a corner. In any case, despite the embarrassment Israel is liable to suffer in The Hague, the application is still a nonviolent, political move, whose impact Israel can mitigate greatly if it conducts its own investigation into suspected war crimes.