The Palestinians knew with certainty that a few days after the Israeli general elections on March 17, the tax funds that Israel froze in January would be released.

How did they know? For the past two decades, the tax revenues collected by Israel under the 1994 Paris Agreement have been used as a political tool to placate the Israeli public. This questionable economic weapon has always proven to be not only ineffective but even detrimental to Israel's security interests. Yet, as far as the decision-makers are concerned, this is a readily available and harmless practice if used in moderation.

This time, too, the Israeli punishment meted out following the request of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in December 2014 was limited to the duration of the electoral race. At the end of the three months of sanctions, and just short of the PA’s economic collapse or a violent outburst in its territories, the prime minister “acquiesced” to the entreating of Israeli security officials and ordered the unfreezing of the funds, despite the Palestinians not having withdrawn their appeal to the ICC.

The tax revenues Israel collects and should transfer monthly to the Palestinians in accordance with the September 1995 "Oslo II" Accord make up about half of the PA's operating budget. The rest comes from the taxes it collects from its population — much of which is exempt or pays a minimal fee due to the dire economic situation — and donations from various countries. US aid amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars was also withheld over the PA's appeal to UN institutions. Just a one-month freeze was enough to shake the entire economic structure of the PA, which has no emergency reserves.