How will ban on national fund affect Palestinians?
Israel’s recent decision to label the Palestinian National Fund, which serves as the PLO’s Ministry of Finance, as a “terror group” raised Palestinian concerns over the future of relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel has been heading downhill ever since the negotiations were halted in April 2014. The strained relationship reached a new level of tensions on March 16 when Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman labeled the Palestinian National Fund (PNF) as a “terror group.”
In a step deemed one of the most serious moves taken by Israel against Palestinian institutions since 1993, when the Oslo Accord was signed, Liberman banned the PNF, which he accused of providing millions of shekels to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and families of victims on a monthly basis, in addition to supporting attacks against Israel.
