The Palestinian street has long since lost faith in the leadership of the PA and its purity of morals and the new directive of PA Chairman Abu Mazen to the Palestinian cellular companies Alwataniya and Aljawal to deduct a monthly sum of one shekel from all their subscribers in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, claiming that the money is intended to support Jerusalem, causing great anger among the Palestinians.
The surprising decision of the PA chairman opened the door to a mass attack on social media against the PA and its leader, and the Palestinian public accuses the PA of corruption and stealing money from the Palestinian public, which is suffering badly from the severe economic crisis and the high cost of living.
The PA justifies the decision by saying that it is suffering from severe financial hardship due to the sanctions that Israel has imposed on it and that it cannot financially support East Jerusalem and its residents, but no one on the Palestinian street believes it, among other things, some residents have threatened to file lawsuits against the Palestinian cellular companies for charging money illegally from their subscribers.
According to sources in the PA, through this move the PA will collect an amount of NIS 60 million per year.
The money will be transferred to a special account at the Islamic Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and from there it will be used to finance development projects in East Jerusalem according to the order of priorities determined by the Palestinian government in Ramallah.
Hassan Harisha, a member of the Palestinian Parliament, accused the PA of stealing public money and that the PA chairman took advantage of the fact that the Palestinian Parliament was paralyzed in order to violate the Basic Law, he claimed that Jerusalem has a special budget on from the PA and does not need the money the Palestinians.
Fatah movement officials are demanding that the PA increase the taxes imposed on the Palestinian cell phone companies that earn millions of dollars from the Palestinian public but pay low taxes because of their ties to the top of the PA.
It seems that indeed the chairman of the PA chose to justify his decision on collecting the special tax when he uses the name of Jerusalem, which is considered holy in the Palestinian street, in order to reduce public criticism of his decision, but this turned into a boomerang and a wave of sharp public criticism of the corruption in the PA.
The PA has almost no influence in East Jerusalem, Israel works vigorously to prevent it from any governmental activity in the east of the city, including transfers of money to residents and projects, the source of the money that occasionally arrives in East Jerusalem in recent years is from Arab countries.
This new scandal is an excellent example of the crisis of trust between the PA and the Palestinian street that has become convinced over the years, since the establishment of the PA in accordance with the Oslo Accords, it is a corrupt entity that only cares about its own needs and manipulates the Palestinian public in sophisticated ways.
The Palestinian street has not forgotten the recent corruption cases in which the name of the PA and its officials were associated, including the Corona vaccines, the financial fund called Waqft Izz that was established to support the Palestinian private sector during the Corona epidemic, the disappearance of the donations from abroad that were intended for various projects such as the establishment of the hospital for treatment of cancer patients named after Khaled Alhassan in the city of Ramallah and the appointments in the public service.
The PA simply ignores the public and international criticism of the corruption in its mechanism, which raises great doubts in the Palestinian street.
The Palestinian public is very disappointed with the Palestinian government led by Muhammad Ishtayeh and the Palestinian street is full of rumors and gossip about the financial conduct of the Palestinian Prime Minister, not to mention the chairman of the PA and his two sons.
It is not clear what exactly is behind this decision by the PA chairman, but it is already clear that this is a big mistake, PA officials say that the PA chairman is aware of the harsh public criticism, but has no intention of retracting the decision.
In the bottom line, PA Chairman Abu Mazen is seen on the Palestinian street as a corrupt leader compared to his predecessor Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian public is fed up with him and according to the latest Palestinian public opinion polls, about 70 percent of the public want his immediate retirement from the political arena and the holding of general elections for the presidency and parliament.
The new tax imposed by the PA on more than a million Palestinians who own cell phones will go down in Abu Mazen’s history as another corrupt move he made during his reign as PA chairman.
