Netanyahu to Freeze Money Transfers to Palestinian Authority

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday vowed to freeze money transfers to the Palestinian Authority in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli by a Palestinian. The move also came after several right-wing oppositions members of Netanyahu called for it.

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The Israeli Shin Bet internal security service and police said in a statement that a 29-year-old Palestinian suspect was seized over the killing of a 19-year-old woman during a raid in the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank.

Shin Bet said the suspect left his home in the Palestinian city of Hebron carrying a knife, saw the victim in the forest and killed her. It was still investigating the motive.

Israeli customs collects around US$127 million per month in duties levied on goods meant for Palestinian markets and transfers it to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Last year the Israeli parliament passed legislation to withhold funds in response to the PA’s payment of families of jailed Palestinians.  

"By the end of the week, the staffwork necessary for implementing the law on deducting terrorists' salaries will be completed," Netanyahu told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"Next Sunday I will convene the security cabinet and we will approve the necessary decision to deduct the funds. Let nobody doubt, the funds will be deducted, at the start of next week," he said.

The Israeli army said Sunday that it will demolish the home of the Palestinian arrested as a suspect in the killing of the Israeli woman.

"Overnight, troops operated in Hebron, where the suspect in the murder of Ori Ansbacher is from," the army said in a statement.

"During the operation, the troops surveyed the suspect's house in order to examine the possibility of its demolition."