Israeli raid in Ramallah is part of attempt to destabilise West Bank, Palestinians say

Israel says it attacked currency exchange that was transferring funds to Hamas

A man walks near Israeli soldiers during an army operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, on Wednesday. EPA

Palestinian officials and financial leaders have strongly criticised Israel's military raid on a currency exchange in central Ramallah on Tuesday, saying the large-scale incursion is part of a wider, politically motivated push to destabilise the occupied West Bank by targeting the Palestinian economy.

The rare daytime incursion took place a few hundred metres from the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 33 people suffered injuries from live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation, including a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the abdomen.

The Israeli military said the target was a currency exchange that “transfers terror funds to Hamas”, and that five people “suspected of terrorist activity” were arrested.

The raid is the latest instance of Israel unilaterally going after Palestinian finances and institutions in the name of stopping money from being transferred to its enemies. Israeli police said on Wednesday that security forces seized roughly 1.5 million shekels ($447,000) of “terror funds” during the raid.

Many Palestinians say these raids are politically motivated attempts to destabilise Palestinian life. Threats to the economy, which has contracted massively since the Gaza war began nearly two years ago, are widely feared to be one of the biggest risk factors for a security collapse in the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at journalists during the raid in Ramallah on Tuesday. AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office described the raid as a “theft of funds” in which property was destroyed, the news agency Wafa reported. It called on the US to put pressure on Israel to call off attacks on the West Bank.

“The Israeli government is pushing the situation towards a major explosion aimed at forcing Palestinians from their land and displacing them,” it said. “The Palestinian people will neither leave nor relinquish their land and holy sites.”

Footage shot near a major roundabout in Ramallah showed at least five Israeli armoured vehicles and troops on the streets. Wafa reported that Israeli snipers positioned themselves on rooftops as soldiers carried out the raid.

Surveillance footage showed terrified Palestinians seeking shelter in shops. Groups of mostly young men were filmed throwing stones at Israeli forces in response to the raid.

Palestinian businessman and economist Samir Hulileh said he believed the raid was “a way to frighten people and make the economy and all of the West Bank tremble”.

He criticised Israel for deploying the military to deal with financial cases, arguing that Palestinian and Israeli authorities, with international oversight, have long worked on specialist approaches to dealing with monetary crime.

A Palestinian sets tyres on fire during clashes with Israeli forces following a military raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday. AP

“We have regulated this since the Oslo Accords and the regulations have been valid all the time except during this [Israeli] government,” Mr Hulileh told The National. He said the Palestinian Monetary Authority and Bank of Israel, with the guidance of the US Treasury and International Monetary Fund, have “excellent” procedures to tackle financial crime.

“Of course, a money changer could be doing something wrong, but to tackle the problem properly, you don’t destabilise the market. You don’t raid violently, injuring and killing people,” he said.

The Israeli government “seems not to care very much”, Mr Hulileh said. “Chaos is maybe what they want … what they’re trying to do is dismantle and pressure the PA for political reasons.”