Qatar said to lend Palestinians $100m to help pay wages

The Palestinian Authority will receive a $100 million loan from Qatar in order to alleviate the financial crisis sparked by a dispute with Israel over tax collection, President Mahmoud Abbas stated Wednesday.

While on an official visit to the Gulf state, Abbas thanked Qatar for the funds, which would help pay the salaries of 170,000 civil servants and fund other services, Reuters reported.

Qatari officials did not immediately confirm the loan had been granted, and made no comments on the topic.

In January, Israel suspended the transfer of some $130 million a month in taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, as a punitive measure over Abbas’s decision to join the International Criminal Court and pursue a war crimes case against Israel.

Following stark international pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier in April that it would release the funds, but would deduct a portion, claiming it was money the Palestinian Authority owed Israel for electric, water and medical care services.

Abbas reportedly refuses to have Israel deduct electricity costs and said that if the issue remains unresolved, he would turn to The Hague.

A Palestinian source told Israel Radio last week that the Israeli demand for electricity costs was far too high for the PA. Multiple sources said the two sides are still NIS 400 million ($100 million) apart on their demands over the amount to be transferred.

The Palestinians officially joined the ICC on April 1. They have said they intend to pursue war crimes allegedly committed by Israel during last summer’s war in Gaza, as well as charges over Israel’s settlement-building policy.

AFP contributed to this report.