U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday voiced concern over a menace from Israel to chop off Palestinian banks from their Israeli correspondent lenders, warning of the danger of a “humanitarian crisis” if Tel Aviv closes essential financing channel to the occupied territories.
Yellen informed a news convention forward of a G-7 finance ministers assembly starting on Friday that the U.S. and its companions “need to do everything possible to increase humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza, to curtail violence in the West Bank, and to stabilize the West Bank’s economy.”
“I’m particularly concerned by Israel’s threats to take action that would lead to Palestinian banks being cut off from their Israeli correspondent banks,” Yellen informed reporters within the lakeside resort city of Stresa in northern Italy.
Yellen stated it was essential to maintain open the Israeli-Palestinian correspondent banking relationships to permit battered economies within the West Bank and Gaza to operate and assist guarantee safety.
“These banking channels are critical for processing transactions that enable almost $8 billion a year in imports from Israel, including electricity, water, fuel, and food, as well as facilitating almost $2 billion a year in exports on which Palestinian livelihoods depend,” she stated.
She stated she would convey up the difficulty on the assembly of the Group of Seven industrial democracies. “I expect other countries to express concern about the impact of such a decision on the West Bank economy. I think this would have a very adverse effect also on Israel.”
Asked what the United States and G-7 would possibly do in response, Yellen stated she had written to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months in the past concerning the financial scenario within the occupied West Bank.
“And as I said, I believe it would create a humanitarian crisis in due course if Palestinian banks are cut off from Israeli correspondence,” she stated.
“Certainly, this is a view that we will voice.”
She additionally repeated U.S. considerations about Israel blocking cash it collects for the Palestinian Authority, saying it “threatens economic stability in the West Bank.”
Under peace agreements, brokered partly by Norway within the Nineties, Israel collects cash for the Palestinian Authority, which workouts restricted autonomy in elements of the West Bank.
But Israel has blocked transfers since shortly after the Oct. 7 assaults by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Since then, Israel’s relentless strikes have killed greater than 35,700 Palestinians, largely girls and youngsters, within the Gaza Strip, in line with native well being officers.
Hamas incursion resulted within the loss of life of greater than 1,170 individuals in Israel, in line with Israeli figures.
“My team and I have also engaged directly with the Israeli government to urge action that would bolster the Palestinian economy and, I believe, Israel’s own security,” Yellen stated.
Financial tensions between Israel and the U.S. have risen over U.S. sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers within the West Bank.
On Wednesday, Norway, with Ireland and Spain, introduced it will acknowledge a Palestinian state from May 28, a transfer that has angered Israel.
Following the choice, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cease transferring tax funds to the Palestinian Authority and to finish Norway’s function in facilitating the transfers.
“Norway was the first to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state today, and it cannot be a partner in anything related to Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich wrote to Netanyahu in a letter on Wednesday, utilizing the Biblical time period for the occupied West Bank.
“I intend to stop transferring the funds to (Norway) and demand the return of all the funds transferred” till now, he added, with out specifying how a lot cash had been despatched to Norway as a part of this settlement.
He additionally stated that he “does not intend to extend the indemnity to correspondent banks that transfer funds from the end of the coming month.”
The Israeli cupboard this 12 months authorized a plan to switch to Norway Palestinian tax funds designated for the Palestinian Authority for its employees in Gaza.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
