RAMALLAH, West Bank — So far, 2017 has been an exceptionally busy year for smugglers moving adulterated fuel from Israel to the West Bank. The fuel is not only causing damage to the machinery in which it is used, but also to the coffers of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which loses out on tax revenue that would normally be paid on regulated fuel.
On Sept. 17, the Preventive Security Service (PSS) announced the closure of an unlicensed point of sale for fuel in the Ramallah governorate. Earlier, on Sept. 8, the Palestinian Customs Police detained a smuggler with 3,000 liters of adulterated fuel headed for a gas station north of Ramallah. The customs police, in cooperation with the PSS, had on Aug. 30 shut down an unlicensed gas station in the Ramallah governorate, seizing its tanks and pumps. On Aug. 21, the customs police confiscated some 10,000 liters of smuggled fuel for noncompliance with specifications and standards and seized three gas pumps at two unlicensed gas stations in the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. That same day, the PSS shut down an unlicensed gas station in Ramallah.
