Palestinian Authority Premier Accuses US of ’Financial War’

By Staff, Agencies

The Palestinian Authority’s New Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Tuesday accused the United States of declaring "financial war" on his people and said an American ‘peace plan’ purported to be in the works will be "born dead."

In his first interview with international media since taking office over the weekend, Shtayyeh laid out plans to get through the financial crisis he has inherited and predicted that the international community, including US allies in the Arab world, would join the Palestinians in rejecting US President Donald Trump's expected ‘peace plan.’

Shtayyeh, a British-educated economist, takes office as the Palestinian Authority, which administers autonomous zones in the ‘Israeli’-occupied West Bank, is mired in a financial crisis.

The Trump administration has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars of aid, including all of its support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, the Zionist entity withheld tens of millions of dollars of tax transfers to punish the Palestinians for their "martyrs' fund," a program that provides stipends to the families of Palestinians imprisoned or martyred as a result of fighting against the enemy.

‘“Israel” is part of the financial war that has been declared upon us by the United States. The whole system is to try to push us to surrender" and agree to an unacceptable peace proposal, Shtayyeh said. "This a financial blackmail, which we reject."