PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi issued a press release on Thursday saying she "strongly denies" that the PLO would be paid off with its withheld tax revenues in order to drop its bid for membership in the UN.
The Ha'aretz report, citing unnamed European diplomats, said the PLO would freeze all moves to achieve full membership for Palestine in various UN agencies until the end of January if Israel let go of the $100 million in Palestinian tax revenues it had withheld as punishment for Palestine joining UNESCO.
“This report is completely untrue, and the Israeli media tools are not the source of information for the Palestinian positions and decisions,” Ashrawi said. “The report is a new Israeli maneuver and an attempt to create confusion to stop the Palestinian bid to the UN."
Ashrawi stressed the determination of the Palestinian leadership to pursuit its diplomatic and political efforts to achieve full membership of the state of Palestine to the United Nations.
Ha'aretz said the fate of the withheld funds is still in question, with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in favor of releasing them while other, more hard-line members of his cabinet like Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz opposed.
PNN - Palestine News Network
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