STRESA: G7 finance leaders will urge Israel to maintain correspondent banking relationships between Israeli and Palestinian banks to allow essential transactions, trade and services to continue, according to a draft joint statement seen by Reuters on Saturday.
The statement, to be issued at the end of a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in northern Italy, also called on Israel to “pay the seized customs revenues to the Palestinian Authority in light of its urgent financial needs.”
The statement echoes a warning from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday that failure to renew the soon-to-expire banking exemption would cut off a vital lifeline to the Palestinian territories amid the devastating conflict in Gaza.
“We call on Israel to take the necessary measures to ensure that correspondent banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks are maintained and that vital financial transactions and essential trade and services can continue,” the draft statement said.
The G7 finance leaders also called for the removal or easing of other measures that are “adversely affecting commercial activity, in order to avoid a further deterioration of the economic situation in the West Bank.”
The statement, to be issued at the end of a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors in northern Italy, also called on Israel to “pay the seized customs revenues to the Palestinian Authority in light of its urgent financial needs.”
The statement echoes a warning from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday that failure to renew the soon-to-expire banking exemption would cut off a vital lifeline to the Palestinian territories amid the devastating conflict in Gaza.
“We call on Israel to take the necessary measures to ensure that correspondent banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks are maintained and that vital financial transactions and essential trade and services can continue,” the draft statement said.
The G7 finance leaders also called for the removal or easing of other measures that are “adversely affecting commercial activity, in order to avoid a further deterioration of the economic situation in the West Bank.”
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