Palestinian Authority check bounces, petrol cut off

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2006

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The private Israeli firm that provides gasoline to the Palestinian Authority said a check for more than 22 million dollars bounced last week and announced it has stopped deliveries.

"A check for 103 million shekels (22.4 million dollars) made out to Dor-Allon was returned unpaid last week and we have stopped deliveries because the Palestinian arrears are accumulating," a Dor-Allon spokesman told AFP Monday.

Amid the threat of a fuel crisis in the Palestinian territories, an Israeli official questioned by AFP said the "government cannot intervene in a matter involving a private contract."

Since the 1994 creation of the Palestinian Authority, Dor-Allon has provided some 600,000 tonnes of fuel and 120,000 tonnes of gas per year to the...