Israel Matzav

The one-page letter was written on PA-letterhead in English, and was addressed to Hirchson at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, Israel. The PA has said it needs the money to pay its approximately 160,000 civil servants, who have not received most of their salaries since Hamas came to power. Ironically, most of the civil servants are members of Fatah and not of Hamas.

The letter accused Israel of violating the agreements under which Israel was obligated to transfer the funds, including the Paris protocol on economic relations of April 1994, which was part of the Oslo accords.

Ironically, two of the three conditions that Hamas has refused to meet in order for the international community to deal with it are its refusal to recognize Israel (the country to whose Finance Minister the letter was addressed) and its refusal to accept past agreements of the 'Palestinian Authority,' including the Oslo accords. The third condition - which Hamas has also not accepted - is putting an end to terrorism.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the Finance Ministry does not regard the letter as signifying any change in Hamas' position, and it has no intention of responding to the letter. The ministry also does not anticipate a change of policy that would see a resumption of the customs transfers.

As I noted yesterday, Israel offered to take NIS 50 million of the escrowed moneys and send it to the PA as medicines through the World Health Organization. Hamas refused: they want cash to pay for terrorists and terror attacks (some of the 'Palestinian Authority's' 160,000 'employees' are terrorists imprisoned in Israeli jails and families of 'martyrs' who have been killed in terrorist activity against Israel).

This is not the first time since the Oslo Accords that Israel has suspended payments to the 'Palestinian Authority.' In 2002, during the last intifadeh, Israel put money in escrow rather than paying it over, when it found documents indicating that money was going to pay terrorists and for terror activities. According to an Israeli official, that money was paid over, "with interest, to the last agora," after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered understandings for greater transparency when Mahmoud Abbas was PA prime minister and Salaam Fayad was minister of finance.