JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel was weighing its options Sunday for further punishing Palestinians after freezing millions in tax revenues as a first response to their bid to join the International Criminal Court.
The Palestinian move to join the Hague-based court sets the scene for potential legal action against Israel for war crimes, in a bid to put pressure on Israel to pull out of the territories.
But the request to join the court, formally presented on Friday, infuriated Israel which quickly moved to freeze the transfer of half a billion shekels ($127 million) in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.
"The Palestinian Authority has chosen to take a path of confrontation with Israel, and we will not sit idly by," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers on Sunday, vowing to put up a vigorous defense of Israel's soldiers.
Although Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the freezing of the transfer as "piracy," Israeli officials warned it was only the first in a series of punitive steps.
"If the Palestinian Authority doesn't take a step back, I think we have to take much more severe steps," said Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of Netanyahu, referring to a "gradual dissolution" of the PA.
"We should not aid the existence of this authority." more
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