Oil tanker (illustrative)
Oil tanker (illustrative)Thinkstock

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is claiming that the natural resources in Judea and Samaria “belong to Palestine”.

Speaking to the Ramallah-based Radio Mawtiny on Tuesday, the PA’s Economy Minister Mohammed Mustafa said that all natural resources in the “State of Palestine” are the property of the Palestinian people.

Mustafa said that Israel had sent a letter to the PA, in which it asked that the PA cancel the tender it issued three months ago regarding oil exploration in Judea and Samaria.

He added that the PA does not intend to reply to the Israeli request to cancel the tender, noting the move taken by Israel indicates its lack of willingness to help advance the PA economy.

The tender issued in March was for natural gas exploration in Area C, the 60 percent of Judea and Samaria that was left under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords.

That tender was not the first time that the PA announced projects in Area C, ignoring Israeli sovereignty over the region.

In February,  the PA’s Ministry of Transport announced plans for an airport in a region of Judea and Samaria located in Area C.

In 2012, then PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad inaugurated a water dam to be built in “Palestine” at a cost of over $1 million, ignoring the fact that the project was located in an area under Israeli sovereignty.

The projects come despite the PA’s continued claims that it is suffering from an economic crisis and begging the world to step up financial aid in order to save it from collapsing.

At the same time the PA has continued to provide huge monthly salaries to terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons while blaming Israel for the financial crisis.