The Palestinian cabinet adopted in its meeting last night in Ramallah a recommendation by the Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara to establish a financial institution or a bank for managing Palestinian public funds, according to a statement issued following the cabinet meeting.
It said that the cabinet discussed Bishara’s report on this matter and has decided to adopt his recommendation and bring it before President Mahmoud Abbas for approval.
The new institution is going to provide financial services to all sectors, as well as small and micro loans to individuals and companies, said the statement.
The new institution is believed intended to fend off possible Israeli sanctions or interference in money transactions in light of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to end all ties with Israel in retaliation for the latter’s decision to annex a large part of the occupied West Bank.
Israel has been withholding under various pretexts millions of dollars of Palestinian tax revenues it collects on goods intended for the Palestinian market and has recently passed a military law barring banks operating in Palestine from handling accounts for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel for their resistance of the occupation or families of those killed by Israelis.
The PA pays its 140,000 employees, including prisoners and their families, through privately-owned banks operating in Palestine.
