Palestine restoring ties with Israel means tax funds and eased travel

For the last six months, the Palestinian Authority has had no relations with Israeli authorities, but restoring relations could see a tangible impact on everyday lives in the West Bank

Palestinian protesters wave flags as Israeli troops take position during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. Reuters

Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there’s little to prevent him from annexing large parts of the West Bank as early as this summer. AP

An Israeli soldier stands guard during a tour made by Israeli parliament members in the Jordan Valley near the Jewish settlement of Maale Efrayim. Reuters

Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinian demonstrators gather during a protest against expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. AP

King Abdullah (r) of Transjordan on May 13, 1948 in Amman with Abed Al Rahman Azzam, the secretary general of the Arab League and Abd Al Elah Ibn Ali, the Prince Regent of Iraq, the day before the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli War. AFP

Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the occupied territory of the West Bank after Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and Syria and seized the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in Syria as well as the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. AFP

A Palestinian child plays in a refugee camp in Jordan on June 23, 1967. AFP

PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a speech to the Palestine National Council meeting to make the historic proclamation of a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories and to recognize Israel in the Palace of Nations conference hall on November 12, 1988, in Algiers. AFP

US President Bill Clinton stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin as they shake hands for the first time on September 13, 1993 at the White House. AFP

Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after they exchanged the documents of the Peace Treaty at Beit Gabriel conference centre on November 10, 1994 on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the Palestinian leadership meeting and threatened to end security coordination with Israel and the United States, saying Israeli annexation would ruin chances for peace. AFP

Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters

Israel's controversial concrete barrier (C) separating the Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov (foreground) in the northern part of east Jerusalem and the Palestinian area of al-Ram (background) in the occupied West Bank. AFP

An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador's residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or "catastrophe". AFP

A Palestinian shepherd tends to his camels on arid land considered to be in "Area C" (under Israeli security and administrative control), southeast of Yatta town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron. AFP

A general view of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, as seen from the Palestinian village of Azmout near the West Bank City of Nablus. EPA

The West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Michmash. AP

The Palestinian Authority’s decision to resume co-ordination with Israel after a six-month hiatus will allow for vital cash flows to the occupied West Bank, while also offering an olive branch to US President-elect Joe Biden after years of severed ties with Washington.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Tuesday that contact with the Israelis would be restored on “financial issues, on health issues, on political issues, on anything that Israel is ready for.”

Such co-ordination was scrapped in May as the Palestinian Authority protested plans by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex vast areas of the West Bank.

The territorial takeover was part of a border US peace plan, but the move was met with widespread international criticism and a reluctance to give the green light in Washington. A deal to normalise relations with the UAE saw Mr Netanyahu agree to a freeze annexation, a move hailed by Emirati officials as ending the attempt to extend Israeli law to the West Bank settlements seen as illegal under international law.

Severing security ties between the Palestinian Authority and Israel had an immediate financial impact, with the Palestinians refusing to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue collected by Israel on its behalf.

The budget hit prompted the Palestinian Authority to cut civil servants’ salaries and hindered its ability to administer the parts of the West Bank under its control.

The lack of security co-operation has also made it difficult for Palestinians to obtain permits to enter Israeli territory or cross into Jordan, hampering access to medical care.

This has also affected the thousands of Palestinian babies born in recent months who have not been registered by Israeli authorities, making it incredibly difficult for their parents to obtain the necessary paperwork to cross Israeli checkpoints.

At least two babies with heart conditions died in June after delays transferring them from Gaza to receive urgent medical care, the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said in July.

While neither side has stated when co-ordination will resume, a letter dated 17 November and addressed to Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein Al Sheikh confirmed Israel’s willingness to restore ties.

"Israel continues to collect taxes for the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately, it was the Palestinian Authority which decided not to receive these collected funds from Israel,” said the letter signed by Kamil Abu Rukun, head of Cogat, the Israeli liaison agency to the Palestinian territories.

A Cogat spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the correspondence, which was published by the Joint List alliance of Arab-Israeli lawmakers.

Beyond boosting the Palestinians’ budget and easing travel, the resumption of co-ordination comes amid hopes that the US election results could thaw a freeze in US-Palestinian relations.

“We look forward to constructive bilateral US-Palestinian relations towards achieving a just and lasting peace,” Mr Shtayyeh wrote on Twitter as he congratulated Mr Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris.

President Donald Trump’s administration closed the Palestinian Authority office in Washington and has taken a series of controversial measures, including recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stating it no longer considers settlements in the West Bank illegal.

Such steps have been lauded by the Israeli government and widely criticised by the international community.

While Biden is unlikely to reverse all of Trump’s policy changes, such as the 2018 opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, the new administration is expected to reinstate funding to the Palestinians that was cut by his predecessors.