The Palestinian Authority (PA) denied receiving a financial loan from the Israeli government, saying the money they recovered was withheld dues from the tax funds.
Head of the Palestinian Civil Affairs Commission, Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, denied reports claiming the Authority has taken a financial loan from the Israeli government.
Sheikh, who also serves as a member of the Fatah Central Committee, asserted, "what was promoted by some media outlets confirming that the Palestinian Authority has taken a financial loan from the Israeli government, is not true. The PA did not take any."
The Palestinian government clarified that the money in question was overdue funds.
The Ministry of Finance said that Israel continues its unfair monthly deductions from the Authority's tax revenues, exceeding 100 million shekels and withholding more than 2 billion shekels. The ministry has not stopped calling for its immediate release.
The statement denied Israeli media reports that the PA received 500 million shekels in a loan from the Israeli government, stating that the amount transferred three months ago is only part of the funds withheld by Israel until all the amount is recovered.
The ministry said it would continue to demand that Israel stop its unfair deductions from the Palestinian funds, in violation of international laws and bilateral agreements, as well as to recover everything Israel is withholding.
Israel collects taxes on behalf of the PA as part of a mechanism outlined in the 1993 Oslo Accords and transfers the funds to Ramallah monthly.
On Friday, Israel Hayom newspaper said that Israel had transferred hundreds of millions of shekels to Ramallah in violation of Israeli law and contrast to statements from Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Israel began earlier this year deducting the sums the PA uses to pay families of prisoners and martyrs after the Knesset passed a law to that effect to discourage the Palestinian practice.
The newspaper said the loan was provided from future repayment funds the Palestinian Authority was supposed to have received from the Israeli tax collection.
The report stressed that the Palestinian Authority is facing a stifling financial crisis, which was the subject of discussion in an urgent session of the government in Ramallah during the past two days.
The Israeli Defense Ministry stated that this money is a "loan" and that its source is mainly money deducted from the Authority and not from Israeli tax funds. It will be re-collected from taxes gathered in favor of the Authority.
The Authority's budget performance report for September shows that Israel transferred a total of 1.7 billion shekels to the PA in that month, 400 millions of which come in payments from previous months and 100 millions in advance on future revenues.
The Authority made it clear in the official report that it had no intention of repaying 80 percent of the funds it received from Jerusalem.
