Enlarge image
View of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank
Photo:
Oded Balilty/ dpa
Israel's security cabinet approved punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday.
This was preceded by a decision by the UN General Assembly: last week, at the request of the Palestinians, it voted for the International Court of Justice in The Hague to review the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories that has been ongoing since 1967.
The sanctions are a response to the PA's decision to "wage a political and legal war against the State of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.
As a reaction to the UN decision, among other things, Palestinian construction projects in the so-called Zone C in the occupied West Bank are to be frozen, according to a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister.
Area C is under sole Israeli control under the Oslo peace accords and accounts for more than 60 percent of the total area of the West Bank.
According to human rights organizations, Palestinians only receive building permits there in exceptional cases.
In addition, the equivalent of around 37 million euros from taxes collected by Israel for the PA are to be paid to the families of terror victims.
In addition, measures are planned against organizations that promote terrorist activities “under the guise of humanitarian work”, it said.
In the past, Israel had classified and shut down several non-governmental organizations as terrorist organizations.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said they condemned the decision "both in terms of money and other planned measures."
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, among other places.
More than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there today.
The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab-influenced eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital.
Israel, on the other hand, sees no breach of the law in its settlement policy.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have recently increased.
The new Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Sol/dpa/Reuters