Mahmoud Abbas rejects tax transfer from Israel

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he will not accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from Israel, since the government kept one-third of the amount to pay for services like electricity and water.

"We are returning the money," Abbas said at a rally in Ramallah. "Either they give it to us in full or we go to arbitration or to the ICC [International Criminal Court]. We will not accept anything else." Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, the BBC reports, but stopped making transfers in January when the Palestinians joined the ICC.

Israel's government announced in March that it would start making payments again, but said it would make deductions to cover the cost of services provided to the Palestinians. Abbas said he will take Israel to the ICC unless all of the money collected is released.

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