Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh rejected today Israeli threats against the Palestinian government for deciding to import livestock from countries other than Israel, stressing that the Palestinians have the right to import whatever they want and from wherever they want.
Speaking at the opening of the weekly Palestinian cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, Shtayyeh stressed that Israel does not have a right to tell the Palestinians what they can or cannot import.
“We reject the Israeli threats against our national economy,” he said. “It is our right to import whatever we want and from anywhere we want. Israel does not have the right to dictate on us its economic or political will.”
Israeli officials have threatened to stop importing Palestinian agricultural products in response to Palestinians deciding to stop importing calves and beef from Israel and to buy them instead from other outside sources in order to diversify their imports prompting beef producers in Israel to demonstrate against the Palestinian decision.
Shtayyeh also said that even though the government is going to pay its employees part of the money it owes them in past unpaid salaries after it got around $500 million in back pay from Israel, its financial crisis and the conflict with Israel over the clearance funds is far from over.
“Israel’s withholding of the Palestinian clearance tax revenues is not over yet and we insist on getting all our money back from Israel,” he said.
He said the Ministry of Finance is going to announce shortly how much money it is going to release to the public employees in owes them in back salaries.
The Prime Minister also said President Mahmoud Abbas is going to travel to Saudi Arabia tomorrow on an official visit and a meeting with the Saudi monarch.
