US mulling asking Israel to provide PA tax funds for Trump’s Gaza plan

The U.S. is considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to Donald Trump's Board of Peace to fund the

U.S. president's post-war plan for Gaza, five sources familiar with the matter said.



The Trump administration has not yet decided whether to make a formal request to Israel, said three of the sources, officials with knowledge of U.S. deliberations with Israel. The two other sources, Palestinians with knowledge of the deliberations, said that under the proposal a portion of the tax money would go to a U.S.-backed transitional government for Gaza and other funds to the PA if it makes reforms.



The PA puts the amount of tax being withheld at $5 billion.



The prospect of the Palestinians' own tax money being repurposed toward Trump's Gaza rebuilding plan, over which their government has had no input, could further sideline the Western-backed PA even as Israel's withholding of the funds begets a financial crisis in the occupied West Bank.