Palestine (Washington Insider) – Israel’s finance
minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to withhold Palestinian tax revenues over
West Bank waste burning, announcing an emergency plan with military orders,
heavy fines, and costs charged to the PA.
As Middle East Monitor reported, Israel’s far-right finance
minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has said Israel may withhold further Palestinian
tax revenues over waste burning in the occupied West Bank. In a statement
released on Thursday, Dec 18, 2025, Smotrich said he held an emergency meeting
with Defence Minister Yisrael Katz to discuss what he called a growing
environmental threat.
He said the burning of waste was more widespread than
previously reported and warned it was harming the environment, public health,
and daily life. Smotrich said the pollution from open fires posed a danger to
residents across the region.
What is Israel planning by withholding Palestinian tax
revenues over waste?
Smotrich said the government is preparing a national
emergency plan to deal with the issue. He said the plan would include tougher
enforcement, the removal of waste sites, and heavy fines. He added that the
costs would be charged to the Palestinian Authority and linked the issue to
Israel’s control over Palestinian tax revenues collected on its behalf.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has
said the government is preparing an “immediate and long-term” emergency plan to
deal with waste burning in the occupied West Bank. He said the issue would be
defined as a national security threat and handled through administrative steps
based on military orders.
Smotrich said these steps would allow Israeli authorities to
act directly in Palestinian areas. He said the measures would include the
confiscation and permanent seizure of Palestinian waste collection trucks to
stop dumping and open burning.
Smotrich said the plan would be supported by what he
described as unlimited funding. He said private contractors would be brought in
and heavy machinery would be used to put out fires and remove waste. He said
the cost of these operations would be deducted directly from Palestinian
Authority funds.
The announcement comes after years of obstacles to
Palestinian waste projects. In earlier years, Israeli authorities blocked
a landfill project near Ramallah that was funded by Germany. The project was
stopped after Israel demanded that nearby settlements also be allowed to use
the landfill, a demand that Germany rejected.
Smotrich also referred to clearance revenues, which are a
key source of income for the Palestinian Authority. These revenues include
taxes and customs duties on goods entering the Palestinian territories through
Israel or via border crossings under Israeli control.
Israel collects the money on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority under existing agreements. The funds have been withheld or reduced
several times in the past as part of political disputes. Such actions have
placed added financial pressure on the Palestinian Authority and affected its
ability to cover basic costs.
This conflict exists in conjunction with established
long-running agreements that allow Israel to control the major economic
resources and infrastructure of the Palestinian territories. Through the Paris
Protocol signed in 1994 at the time of signing of the Oslo Accords, the state
of Israel collects and administers tax and customs revenue on all imported
goods into the Palestinian territories and remits this revenue to the
Palestinian Authority.
As previously mentioned, Israeli authorities have a history
of delaying or withholding these funds from the PA due to political volatility.
This was evident in 2019 in connection with payment related to the Palestinian
prisoners and ongoing into 2023 and on into 2024 relative to the Gaza War.
Additionally, waste management has continued to be a very
controversial issue in light of the Oslo II Accord of 1995, whereby Israel
retained the right to have control over a large percentage of land in the West
Bank, thus restricting Palestinian capabilities to undertake substantial
development projects.
