RAMALLAH, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) has started carrying out practical measures to fully separate its economy from Israel, Mohammad Mustafa, the economic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Friday in an interview with Xinhua.
"The separation steps, or economic disengagement, are proceeding in accordance to a gradual plan covering several areas," Mustafa said.
He said that the plan was implemented in accordance to the political decision of the National Council of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was approved by the Palestinian leadership in coordination with the Palestinian government.
The PLO National Council (PNC), the parliament of the organization, had made earlier a series of decisions to limit the relationship with Israel on the political, economic and security levels.
"As a first step, the PA began to push forward to amend Paris Economy Accords (signed between Israel and the PLO in 1996 to organize the economic ties between the two sides), or reach a new accord throughout official contacts either with Israel or France, the sponsor of the agreement," he said.
Mustafa stressed that the Palestinian side "is seeking a more balanced agreement that ensures the Palestinian interests and creates proper environment to the growth of the Palestinian economy and makes it recover."
Asked about the practical steps, the Palestinian economist said that the Palestinian efforts are focusing on finding a local productive base that is able to replace the Israeli products with national products in order to minimize the Israeli control on the Palestinian markets.
"We have economic activities; large part of them are based on the Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) in order to create alternative sectors, which are essential, such as energy, agriculture, health, cements and infrastructure for trade and industry," said Mustafa, also the chairman of the PIF.
He unveiled that the PIF "has been working on stopping to count on Israel for importing fuels throughout various studies that search for importing fuels from different sources such as Jordan, or throughout foreign providers through Israeli seaports."
"We also studied the possibility of importing oil from Russia, India and other places through Israeli seaports or through the Jordanian port of Aqaba," he said, adding "but these studies show that the financial calculations are not profitable, which requires additional effort and we are looking for ways to reduce the cost."
He warned that the Palestinian economy is suffering as a result of the dependence of the Palestinian trade on Israel by 70 percent of its imports.
"This reality enshrines Israel's economic dominance over the Palestinian market and allows it to control Palestinian tax revenues, which limits the growth potential of the Palestinian economy," he said.
Mustafa stressed that "there is a possibility to achieve gradual economic disengagement from Israel," adding that "various steps had been taken in the fields of energy with solar energy being an alternative to importing electricity from Israel.
Meanwhile, the Abbas aide reiterated on the Palestinian position to refuse receiving partial tax revenue dues from Israel for the third month in-a-row. He held Israel fully responsible for the consequences "because it (Israel) doesn't respect the signed accords and agreements."
Palestinians declared earlier this week that the PA returned the tax transfers owed due to the deduction for the third time, since the end of February.
In February, the PA announced that it refused to receive the tax revenue dues from the Israeli side after Israel cut the money the PA pays to the families of Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel and those imprisoned in Israeli jails.
According to the agreements signed between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel collects taxes from the trade that the Palestinians bring from abroad through Israeli seaports, and pays the taxes back to the PA every month.
Mustafa stressed that "the threats and pressures exerted on the Palestinian leadership will not deter them from continuing to stand firm and adhere to the firm position on the rights of the Palestinian people."
