Qatar lends Palestinians $100 million

RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it had received a $100 million loan from Qatar to help pay civil servants salaries and alleviate an economic crisis triggered by a row with Israel over taxes.

President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement thanking Qatar for the loan. Israel collects taxes on behalf of Abbas's Palestinian Authority but suspended payments of some $130 million a month in January to protest at moves by the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Following widespread criticism by Western allies, Israel earlier this month released some of the frozen tax revenue, but withheld a portion of the cash, saying it was money Palestinians owed for utilities and health care supplied by Israel. Abbas said the deductions amounted to a third of the total sum that Israel owed and refused to accept any of the money, threatening to go to the ICC over the issue.

An official at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that Israel had deducted money to cover the Palestinians' electricity, water and health bills and was "willing to transfer back to the Palestinian Authority the sum that was returned whenever it wishes".