RAMALLAH, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestine's current conflict with Israel, mainly after the move to join the International Criminal Court, may heat up and lead to negative consequences, including the dissolving of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), analysts told Xinhua.
Israel on Saturday unofficially announced that in return to the Palestinian move of joining 20 international agencies and treaties, it will freeze transferring 128 million U.S. dollars tax revenue dues. Israel Radio also reported that Israel may take other punishment against the PNA.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed 20 international treaties and agencies after the Palestinians failed last week to get the approval of the UN Security Council of a draft resolution which calls for ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a Palestinian state within two years.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua earlier that holding the money of taxes "is a punishing measure which aims at undermining the Palestinian National Authority," adding that "this means that the PNA won't be able to run hospitals, schools or pay the monthly salaries of its employees."
He warned that in case Israel carries on with these measures, "the Palestinian leadership will have no choice but to call on Israel to bear its full responsibility towards the Palestinian territories and the Palestinian people as an occupation authority."
Israel controls all Palestinian crossings and collects tax revenues from the Palestinian imports. Those tax revenue dues represent two third of the Palestinian budget. Israel collects the taxes and pays it back to the PNA, which are more than a billion U.S. dollars every year.
Samir Awad, the political analyst from the West Bank, told Xinhua that dissolving the PNA "is a choice that Israel doesn't want since it means a high cost of expenses and a political responsibility to the Palestinians."
"The Israeli threat of imposing sanctions on the Palestinians is just to test the PNA's ability of whether it would be able to hang on and carry out with its diplomatic measures of joining the agencies and treaties," said Awad, adding that "Israel won't endanger the situation and keeps holding the money forever."
Awad ruled out a resumption of the direct peace talks between the two sides, but proposed that if the Palestinians develop their draft resolution and present it to the UN Security Council with the help of the Europeans, "I believe that this would help to defuse the tension between Israel and the Palestinians."
According to Palestinian officials, joining the International Criminal Court would enable the Palestinians to sue Israel for war crimes of the latest Gaza war. During the 50-day military operation, around 2,200 Palestinians were killed and more than 10,000 injured.
The current escalation of conflict between the two sides took place as the direct peace talks had been stalled since April last year.
"Israel apparently practices pressure on the Palestinians to oblige them to regret joining the international agencies and treaties, mainly the Rome Statute," said Ahmed Rafeeq, a scholar from a Ramallah-based think-tank. Palestinian officials also warned that the sanctions on the PNA will lead to its collapse.
"Israel not only wants the Palestinians to withdraw joining the agencies and treaties, it also wants them to unconditionally resume the direct peace talks. This means that Israel wants the Palestinians to be weak and humiliated to any future solution," said Ahmed Rafeeq.
However, Rafeeq believed the PNA will not succumb to Israeli threat. "I don't think the Palestinians would accept to resume the peace talks with Israel before ending or freezing settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem," he said, adding that "if the PNA accepts unconditioned resumption of the talks, it will lose its credibility among people."
Rafeeq also warned that the situation must be carefully considered and handled, otherwise it might become out of control. "I believe that all parties have to work hard on getting out of this crisis, because the situation is gradually pushed towards an opened confrontation," he said.
Nabil Amro, a former Palestinian diplomat and a political analyst, told Xinhua that the reason behind the growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians "is because there has no progress achieved in their direct peace talks, and this certainly creates more confrontations in the future."
"The situation is really very much worrying and the only temporary solution to defuse this tension is that the PNA has to slow down its move to join the international agencies and treaties. But it has to be done in accordance with the international community and the United States," said Amro.
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