Ramallah- Once again, the Israeli occupation raids and vandalizes exchange companies in the West Bank, confiscates their money, causing losses of millions of dollars, which insurance companies do not compensate for.
Since the re-invasion of the West Bank, the occupation has not stopped raiding and storming money exchange shops under the pretext of using them by Palestinian factions, specifically the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), to receive money from abroad, which the shop owners deny, saying that they are subject to a strict financial system.
The raids targeted several money exchange shops in the governorates of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Hebron, Jenin, and Tulkarm, and the raid was accompanied by the confiscation of millions of shekels (a dollar equals 3.62 shekels) and the arrest of 21 of the owners and workers of these companies, according to a statement by the Israeli army, while the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported the confiscation of 10 million shekels.
The occupation forces raided 5 money exchange shops in the West Bank and confiscated 10 million shekels from them.. What are the contexts and developments accompanying the event?#News #Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/xylyU1uLh3
– Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) December 28, 2023
Arrest and sabotage
An employee of the Nour Al-Huda Exchange Company in Ramallah, who preferred not to mention his name, said, “The house of the company’s owner, Mashhour Al-Kook (50 years old), was broken into and its contents vandalized in conjunction with the storming of the company’s two branches in Ramallah and the town of Turmus Ayya, east of the city.”
He added in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the occupation forces arrested Al-Kok along with three of the company’s employees, destroyed the doors of the two branches and their contents, confiscated sums of money that had not yet been counted, and hung a paper in the Ramallah office stating that it had been closed.
The employee added that the company had been subjected to previous raids, the most recent of which was at the beginning of last October, when he decided to close the store even though it was in an area under Palestinian control.
The employee clarifies that the company is complying with the instructions and instructions of the Palestinian Monetary Authority (which acts as the central bank), considering that “the intrusion and vandalism aim to put pressure on people and strike their economic institutions.”
Occupation forces raid money exchange shops in #Embryo Its funds are confiscated under the pretext of “combatting the funding sources of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements,” while it has spread in several areas of the city and deployed its snipers on the roofs of buildings.
| Report: Guevara Al-Badiri #News #Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/03WdG3HxjT– Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) December 28, 2023
Control and supervision
For its part, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said, “The Israeli occupation forces stormed, at dawn on Thursday, the headquarters of 6 exchange companies, raided them, arrested a number of their owners, and seized sums of money from their safes after blowing them up.”
She added, in a statement reached Tel Aviv Tribune Net, that all of these companies are “subject to the control and supervision of the Palestinian Monetary Authority,” considering that “the attack, raid, and destruction of the headquarters of entities subject to its supervision represents an act that violates all international norms, laws, charters, and agreements, and aims to undermine confidence in the Palestinian banking and banking sector.” .
The Monetary Authority said that it is applying the latest regulatory systems to the banking sector with the aim of preserving the integrity of this sector, developing its business, and improving the services it provides to the public in accordance with international requirements and best practices. It added that it is “vigorously following up this sinful attack with all relevant parties.”
#urgent | The Israeli Broadcasting Authority on the Minister of Defense: 5 money exchange shops in the West Bank classified as terrorist and 10 million shekels confiscated from them#Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/p9yaiQ07YI
– Tel Aviv Tribune Channel (@AJArabic) December 28, 2023
Ongoing campaign
As part of its escalating campaign in recent years, the occupation included two exchange companies in the Gaza Strip on the “terrorism list” for transferring money to the Hamas movement. It also confiscated digital currencies several times that it said were intended to support Hamas.
The Arab Jordanian Bank was previously prosecuted in the United States on charges of facilitating the transfer of funds to Hamas leaders.
In addition to money exchange shops, the occupation army has raided printing presses and advertising companies since October 7 under the pretext of printing “inflammatory” materials and posters.
Charitable societies in the West Bank – especially those responsible for caring for orphans – also remained the target of raids and confiscation of property until 2007 under the same pretext, which was to pursue Hamas’ sources of funding. At that time, the Palestinian Authority formed the administrations of these societies from members affiliated with it.
A massive campaign in Judea and Samaria in cooperation with IDF forces, Border Guards and Lahav 433 to confiscate the funds of the Hamas terrorist organization – 21 suspects were arrested and millions of shekels were confiscated. pic.twitter.com/DnYMMxx8Tb
– Israel Police (@Israelpolice_Ar) December 28, 2023
What is the goal?
Political analyst Sari Orabi says, “There is no information available about the accuracy and validity of the Israeli narrative regarding the occupation’s allegations about Hamas’ relationship with these companies or their financing, and the battle between the two sides continues, especially in the financial aspect.”
He adds that there is a kind of competition between organizational work and the factions exhausted and consumed by persecution in the West Bank and the occupation, and that it restricts the resources of the factions and employs security and intelligence efforts for this because money is the backbone of organizational work.
Orabi says, “The occupation could have contented itself with announcing the confiscation as in previous times, but this time the announcement was accompanied by a media parade and the storming of all West Bank cities at the same time, and behind that were two messages.” The first is directed to the Israeli society that the security and political establishment exists, is present, and effective, while the second message is to put pressure on the economically besieged Palestinian community.
He pointed out that the raid on exchange companies coincides with Israel’s withholding of tax funds from the Palestinian Authority on the one hand, and preventing workers from reaching their workplaces in Israel on the other hand, “and thus the occupation is besieging other interests and sources of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank arena.”
He added that the occupation wants the Palestinian community to feel its presence “within a policy that also includes closing checkpoints and roads, isolating areas from each other, and increasing the number of martyrs and detainees in an unprecedented manner.”
He added that the most important goal of the occupation is to “prevent the Palestinians of the West Bank from significantly engaging in any act of struggle.”
In addition to the previous messages, Orabi says that there is a message to the authority, which is being talked about reforming and rehabilitating according to Israeli and American standards, that “the occupation exists.”
