Israel threatens more retaliation against Palestinian court move after tax freeze
Benjamin Netanyahu says he will "not sit idly by" if Palestinians try to drag Israeli soldiers to the International Criminal Court
Israeli officials vowed further retaliation against the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday after withholding £83 million in tax revenues in retribution for its decision to join an international war crimes body.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister said he would not "sit idly by" and allow Israeli soldiers to be summonsed by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, signed up to last week.
The Palestinian move in theory could allow the authority to pursue Israel for war crimes committed in occupied lands, although legal experts suggest this could prove problematic in practice.
By way of further pay-back, Israel could attempt to turn the tables by pursuing war crimes charges of its own against the Palestinians, Mr Netanyahu hinted. He cited a unity deal struck between Mr Abbas and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza, which is widely regarded as a terrorist organisation and has conducted numerous lethal attacks against Israeli civilians.
Pro-Israeli legal organisations, some of them based in the United States, are said to have advised that Hamas' inclusion in the Palestinian unity government makes the PA vulnerable.
"The Palestinian Authority has chosen confrontation with Israel and we will not sit idly by.," Mr Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting. "We will not allow IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) soldiers and commanders to be hauled before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. It is the Palestinian Authority leaders - who have allied with the war criminals of Hamas - who must be called to account."
The Israeli leader's comments followed a decision on Saturday not to release monthly tax revenues that Israel collects for the PA - a step that, if prolonged, could leave the authority facing a financial black hole and unable to pay workers' salaries.
Israel has temporarily withheld revenues several times in the past - most notably in November 2012 as revenge for Mr Abbas seeking and obtaining de facto statehood recognition at the United Nations.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, denounced the latest decision as "piracy" and "collective punishment".
"Israel is using piracy against international law," he said. "This is not Israeli charity to the Palestinian people they are withholding, but our own money, which is rightfully ours."
Israeli officials said it would merely be a first step.
"If the Palestinian Authority doesn't take a step back, I think we have to take much more severe steps up until a gradual dissolution, a gradual neutralization of the Palestinian Authority. We should not aid the existence of this authority.," Yuval Steinitz, the intelligence and strategic affairs minister - and a close ally of Mr Netanyahu - told Army Radio.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, said the Palestinians' application to the ICC sounded the death knell for the 1993 Oslo accords, which agreed in principle a two-state solution to the long-running conflict between the two sides.
Addressing a conference of Israeli ambassadors to Eurpean capitals, he said Israel's biggest security threat in the coming year would be rising anti-Israeli feeling among European nations - rather than Palestinian militancy or Iran's nuclear programme.
He referred to recent parliamentary votes in several EU states - including Britain - in favour of recognizing a Palestinian state and accused European states of abandoning Israel in a similar manner to the allied betrayal of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in 1938.
Singling out Sweden and Ireland, whose legislatures have also backed recognition, he said much European parliamentary discussion of the issue amounted to "another chapter in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a notorious anti-Semitic pamphlet of the early 20th century.
Benjamin Netanyahu says he will "not sit idly by" if Palestinians try to drag Israeli soldiers to the International Criminal Court
Israeli officials vowed further retaliation against the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday after withholding £83 million in tax revenues in retribution for its decision to join an international war crimes body.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister said he would not "sit idly by" and allow Israeli soldiers to be summonsed by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, signed up to last week.
The Palestinian move in theory could allow the authority to pursue Israel for war crimes committed in occupied lands, although legal experts suggest this could prove problematic in practice.
By way of further pay-back, Israel could attempt to turn the tables by pursuing war crimes charges of its own against the Palestinians, Mr Netanyahu hinted. He cited a unity deal struck between Mr Abbas and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza, which is widely regarded as a terrorist organisation and has conducted numerous lethal attacks against Israeli civilians.
Pro-Israeli legal organisations, some of them based in the United States, are said to have advised that Hamas' inclusion in the Palestinian unity government makes the PA vulnerable.
"The Palestinian Authority has chosen confrontation with Israel and we will not sit idly by.," Mr Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting. "We will not allow IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) soldiers and commanders to be hauled before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. It is the Palestinian Authority leaders - who have allied with the war criminals of Hamas - who must be called to account."
The Israeli leader's comments followed a decision on Saturday not to release monthly tax revenues that Israel collects for the PA - a step that, if prolonged, could leave the authority facing a financial black hole and unable to pay workers' salaries.
Israel has temporarily withheld revenues several times in the past - most notably in November 2012 as revenge for Mr Abbas seeking and obtaining de facto statehood recognition at the United Nations.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, denounced the latest decision as "piracy" and "collective punishment".
"Israel is using piracy against international law," he said. "This is not Israeli charity to the Palestinian people they are withholding, but our own money, which is rightfully ours."
Israeli officials said it would merely be a first step.
"If the Palestinian Authority doesn't take a step back, I think we have to take much more severe steps up until a gradual dissolution, a gradual neutralization of the Palestinian Authority. We should not aid the existence of this authority.," Yuval Steinitz, the intelligence and strategic affairs minister - and a close ally of Mr Netanyahu - told Army Radio.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, said the Palestinians' application to the ICC sounded the death knell for the 1993 Oslo accords, which agreed in principle a two-state solution to the long-running conflict between the two sides.
Addressing a conference of Israeli ambassadors to Eurpean capitals, he said Israel's biggest security threat in the coming year would be rising anti-Israeli feeling among European nations - rather than Palestinian militancy or Iran's nuclear programme.
He referred to recent parliamentary votes in several EU states - including Britain - in favour of recognizing a Palestinian state and accused European states of abandoning Israel in a similar manner to the allied betrayal of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in 1938.
Singling out Sweden and Ireland, whose legislatures have also backed recognition, he said much European parliamentary discussion of the issue amounted to "another chapter in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a notorious anti-Semitic pamphlet of the early 20th century.
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