The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, delivering his speech before the United Nations General Assembly via videoconference, on Sep. 25, 2025. (Credit: Spencer Platt / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
12 countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Spain, announced Friday the creation of a coalition to provide financial support to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, whose tax revenues are being withheld by Israel.
The Emergency Coalition for the Financial Viability of the Palestinian Authority was “created in response to the urgent and unprecedented financial crisis” facing the Authority, the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement. Its goal is to stabilize the finances of the Ramallah-based body, preserve its ability to govern, provide essential services, and maintain security. “All elements indispensable to regional stability and to preserving the two-state solution,” the statement added.
The communiqué highlighted both the “significant past financial contributions” and the pledges of “sustained support” made by the coalition, which also includes Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland.
The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said that donors have pledged at least 170 million dollars in funding for the Authority. Saudi Arabia will provide 90 million dollars, its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, announced Thursday evening, according to state media.
Under the 1994 Paris Protocol, Israel collects tax revenues on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. But after the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, Israel began withholding those revenues. The Palestinian Authority says this has worsened basic services such as health and education and increased poverty. Israeli authorities, meanwhile, argue that part of the withheld funds goes toward paying off expenses such as electricity sold to the Palestinians.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who halted all transfers to the Palestinian Authority four months ago, has vowed to continue working to bring about its collapse through “economic strangulation,” in order to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
The announcement comes as Israel’s traditional allies, including France and the United Kingdom, were among a number of countries that recognized the State of Palestine during this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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