By: HOSNEY ABDELATY – Law Student
In a scenario revealing the extent of political and legal collusion against the Palestinian people, American demands have emerged for Israel to transfer withheld Palestinian tax revenues to the so-called “Gaza Plan.” This move cannot be considered a simple financial or humanitarian measure; rather, it represents a combined attack on international law and the political and economic rights of the Palestinian people.
First, Israel’s withholding of Palestinian tax revenues constitutes a clear violation of the signed agreements, particularly the Paris Economic Protocol, which governs financial relations between the two parties. These funds are not a favor to the occupation; they are exclusively Palestinian funds, collected from the taxes of Palestinian citizens, and keeping them under Israeli control constitutes collective punishment, prohibited by international law.
Second, diverting these funds to projects or plans imposed against the will of the Palestinians constitutes an unlawful misappropriation of Palestinian public funds. Neither the United States has the right to dispose of these funds, nor does Israel have the legitimacy to withhold or divert them according to political agendas that serve its security and strategic objectives. Any use of these funds without the free and independent consent of the Palestinian people represents a form of disguised political plunder.
Third, the so-called “Gaza Plan” appears to be part of ongoing attempts to circumvent the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination by imposing economic or administrative solutions as alternatives to a just political solution. When Palestinian suffering is transformed into a tool to reshape their future against their national will, the issue becomes far more serious than a simple financial one; it is an attempt to bury the political identity of the Palestinian people under the rubble of conditional aid and imposed projects.
International law does not grant any state the right to confiscate the funds of a people living under occupation, nor does it allow them to be reused to create a new political reality that serves the occupying power. What is happening today is not only a violation of Palestinian financial sovereignty, but also a true test of the world’s respect for the principles of justice and the right of peoples to freedom and independence.
Palestine is not a treasure trove for political blackmail, nor a land to be bartered or plundered under any pretext. What is taken from the Palestinians by force will not legitimize any project, because national rights are not lost through a siege, nor are they stifled by plans developed far from the land’s legitimate owners.
