Date :21 Jul 2010
The Palestinian Authority has filed suit in an Israeli court over the alleged theft of fuel by an Israeli transport company contracted by the nation's largest oil distributor.

The allegations, brought forth in a Ma'an investigation days earlier, involve a petrol distributor taking advantage of PA customs inefficiencies to pilfer thousands of liters of fuel.

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA initiated legal proceedings to prosecute two Israeli import and transport companies, including the Scheffer transport group, over an alleged theft at the Ni'lin warehouse in the Ramallah district on 9 July.

Crossings employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity, estimate that a pilfering scheme funnels up to five percent of a load's value. This deficit amounts to between 2-3,000 liters of fuel that has gone missing.

The first stage of the suit, Fayyad explained in a statement issued Tuesday, will be to seek a court order requiring Israeli officials "to reveal the details of the investigation into the intentional theft."

Additionally, Fayyad said the PA has demanded that Paz Oil, which holds an exclusive contract to provide the West Bank with fuel through September, no longer transport fuel using Scheffer.

“The government is determined to pursue proceedings to prosecute those responsible for this crime, and to compensate the Palestinians, who have been robbed of their rights to the imported fuel," he said. source: ma'an