Blog 9: Israel responds to Palestine with Halted Tax Transfers

Summary:
The eternal chess game of moves and counter moves continues in the Middle East. Since Israel refused to release the fourth group of prisoners the other week, Palestine applied to join 15 international conventions and treaties, which it had promised not to do while peace talks were open, which they are until April 29th. Despite the fact that Palestine violated the agreement, an article written earlier this week suggested that the move was not intended to disrupt peace talks, but rather to retain credibility with Palestine's impatient citizens. And even though a former Israeli negotiator has admitted that the application was not that big of a political deal for either Palestine or Israel,  Israel has responded by announcing that it will withhold the tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and will use the money instead to pay off some of the Palestinians' utility bills. The last time Israel punished Palestine with a tax sanction was in 2012, "after their successful bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations to that of a nonmember observer state." Without the money, it was difficult for Palestine to pay its government workers. With the recent tax sanction -- totaling hundreds of millions of dollars -- Palestine could be facing financial struggles again unless it cooperates with Israel by the end of the month, when the money is usually transferred.

Analysis:
It looks like Israel and Palestine are testing each other. They remind me of toddlers who will throw something on the floor with their parents watching to see if they can get away with it. Are Israel and Palestine trying to see where the boundaries are and where the eventual peaceful boundaries (if it ever reaches peace) will lie? It's definitely a common behavior even with adults: students test which assignments they can get away with not doing or what ungraded but "suggested" material they can skip; workers test which rules they can break; engineers test which codes they can disregard (with sometimes disastrous results). Maybe John Kerry should just look at it from this light so he can save himself some stress.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/world/middleeast/israel-to-halt-tax-transfers-to-palestinians.html?ref=middleeast

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/03/world/middleeast/middle-east-peace-talks.html