Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has refused for the past 18 months to sign off on the transfers of funds owed to Ramallah, which have amounted to over US$7 billion, according to the Times of Israel.

For much of the past year, the Palestinian Authority has paid its roughly 150,000 public-sector employees only 50 percent of their salaries. The newspaper assesses that the extended political deadlock keeps Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in their existing positions of influence over affairs in the West Bank, albeit in a caretaker capacity.