In his speech during the meeting, Kulakli Kaya expressed his gratitude to the European Commission and the Palestinian Authority for keeping the Palestinian issue at the forefront of the international agenda, and pointed out that ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and implementing the two-state solution has become an urgent necessity.
Kulakli Kaya pointed out that the Palestinian economy is on the verge of collapse due to escalating Israeli sanctions and measures that amount to economic strangulation, and explained that the short-term financial stability of the Palestinian Authority depends on the immediate release of withheld tax revenues.
Kulakli Kaya stressed that the common goal of successive Israeli governments is "to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to subjugate the Palestinian people," and indicated that efforts should focus on providing support to the Palestinian Authority through financial, technical and humanitarian aid.
The Turkish official stressed that Turkey will continue to support Palestine through capacity-building projects and development assistance programs, and stated that all joint efforts should ultimately focus on establishing an independent, sovereign, and geographically contiguous Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He continued, calling on the international community to take action: "The international community must move beyond statements. We must support the Palestinian Authority financially and institutionally."
According to the Palestinian government, clearance funds constitute about 68% of its revenues, while the value of funds withheld by Israel exceeds $6 billion.
Clearance funds are taxes and customs duties that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods entering the occupied territories, and transfers to it monthly under the Paris Economic Protocol signed in 1994.
Since 2019, Israel has been deducting amounts from clearance funds, before stopping their transfer entirely more than a year ago, which exacerbated the financial crisis of the Palestinian government and disrupted its ability to pay the salaries of its employees in full.
In addition, Israeli violations and attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank continue.
From October 8, 2023 until June 29 of this year, attacks by the Israeli occupation army and settlers in the occupied West Bank resulted in the martyrdom of 1,179 Palestinians and the injury of about 13,000, in addition to the arrest of about 24,000, according to data from the Palestinian Government Communication Center.
