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Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon sat down on Sept. 13 with Hussein al-Sheikh, the minister of civil affairs for the Palestinian Authority (PA), at a table festooned with Israeli and Palestinian flags. It was quite obvious that Kahlon was excited.
Kahlon and Sheikh were meeting to sign an agreement to settle the enormous debt that the PA owes the Israeli Electric Company, estimated at 1.78 billion shekels ($480 million). According to the terms of the agreement, the PA will pay the electric company about a third of its debt — 570 million shekels ($150 million) — in cash, while the rest will be paid out over 48 installments. About 500 million shekels ($132 million) of the debt will be forgiven.
