The US is considering asking Israel to give some tax money it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority to Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to fund the US president’s post-war plan for Gaza, five sources familiar with the matter said.

The Trump administration has not yet decided whether to make a formal request to Israel, said three of the sources, officials with knowledge of US deliberations with Israel.

The two other sources, Palestinians with knowledge of the deliberations, said that under the proposal, a portion of the tax money would go to a US-backed transitional government for Gaza and other funds to the PA if it makes reforms.

The PA puts the amount of tax being withheld at $5 billion.

A Palestinian official confirmed to The Times of Israel that the US has proposed transferring a large portion of the withheld funds to the Board of Peace in exchange for an equal cut being released to the PA.

Ramallah in the past has rejected the coopting of its funds, even for purposes that could benefit civilians in Gaza, viewing the move as a violation of its sovereignty. However, the PA is reconsidering its stance given its desperation to secure access to at least some of the money held by Israel, the official said.

The prospect of the Palestinians’ own tax money being repurposed toward Trump’s Gaza rebuilding plan, over which their government has had no input, could further sideline the Western-backed PA even as Israel’s withholding of the funds begets a financial crisis in the West Bank.

Israel has proposed using a portion of the several billions of dollars it is holding to pay for the clearing of rubble for construction projects in Gaza, as well as to cover the cost of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations during the war, a PA official told The Times of Israel in January.

Ramallah opposes both ideas, arguing that........

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