The US, the EU and the United Kingdom ask Israel not to suspend operations with Palestinian banks

The cancellation, in the hands of the ultranationalist Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, could burst the entire Palestinian financial system

Oct. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Seven officials from national and international economic and finance portfolios, starting with the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, have asked the Israeli Government for guarantees that its Finance Minister and declared ultranationalist, Bezalel Smotrich, extends the agreement for at least one year. of correspondence between banks in Israel and the West Bank, whose collapse could destroy the entire Palestinian financial system.

Smotrich has until October 31 to expand this communication, in practical terms an authorization for Israeli banks to carry out operations with West Bank banks in areas of such importance as fiscal, since Israel acts as a tax collector for the Palestinian Authority. .

The Israeli Finance Minister is convinced that Palestinian banks function as money launderers for the militias, which is why he has threatened on several occasions to allow the agreement to expire.

Thus, in a letter collected by the American news portal Axios, Yellen and the heads of Economy and Finance of Japan, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia and France ask the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to contain his minister and expand the aforementioned authorization.

“We write to emphasize our fear that actions taken by some members of your government to deny the West Bank access to financial resources endanger Israel’s security and threaten to further destabilize the entire region at an already dangerous time,” they write. know in the letter.

The signatory Economy and Finance officials warn Israel that the suspension of the authorization will automatically imply the cessation of bilateral trade between Israeli and Palestinian banks estimated at 10 billion euros. The result “will damage the Israeli economy and aggravate an already terrible situation in the West Bank,” they add.

American sources tell Axios that, in recent weeks, the Biden Administration has made a list of “safe Palestinian banks” that meet Smotrich’s demands but right now there is no response from the Israeli government. Only the Council of Ministers, with Netanyahu at the helm, would be able to overrule any decision that Smotrich made in this regard.

A suspension, the signatories add, would cause “financial flows to become less transparent and more dangerous”, and would have an additional negative impact on the donation funds necessary to stabilize the Palestinian economy.”