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Palestinian Misrepresentation and Falsification of the Oslo Accords Tax Provisions
(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - The Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords (1993-1995) established reciprocal economic and financial commitments to strengthen peace. To this end, Israel agreed to waive certain taxes in favor of the Palestinian Authority (PA), assuming that their reciprocal commitments would contribute to peaceful relations. Based on this commitment, since 2010, Israel has collected over 107.5 billion shekels on behalf of the PA. Rather than using this tax income to promote peace, the Palestinians have used the money to fund a host of policies that fundamentally breach their commitments in the Oslo Accords, including incitement to terror, the "Pay-for-Slay" terror reward policy, promoting Palestinian statehood, and using international fora to hound Israeli officials. In their attempt to falsify and misrepresent the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians are now claiming that the agreed-upon taxes are "Palestinian monies" stolen by Israel. In light of these actions, which are tantamount to a unilateral alteration of the Oslo Accords, Israel should reconsider its position regarding the tax waivers and adopt performance-based criteria as a precondition for any future transfers. The writer, Director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center, was director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria.