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Israeli lawmakers welcomed Monday the approval of a law freezing funds for the Palestinian Authority on its payments to convicted terrorists and their families.
The bill states that the compensation paid by the Palestinian Authority to Palestinian prisoners and their families, as well as to the families of the murdered attackers, must be deducted from the tax revenues that Israel transfers each year to the administrative body. The money withheld this way would rather go into a fund designated to help victims of terrorist attacks.
"We have promised to stop salaries for the terrorist festivities and we have filled in. Now it is final," Defense Minister Avidgor Liberman wrote on Twitter.
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"Each shekel of Abu Mazen paid to terrorists and murderers will automatically be deducted from the budget of the Palestinian Authority .A veritable war on terror is also waged against the pocket of terrorists, their families and Abu Mazen, "he added, using the nickname of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Proponents of the law told the Palestinians that "The Palestinian Authority has turned into a factory where the murderous employees [of] mostly Jews but also Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circbadians and others, including tourists, "said MK co-sponsor Avi Dichter (Likud), He said the law is intended to send a" moral and principled message "that Israel will not help to send the Money to terrorists, and bring the Palestinian Authority to rethink its policy. Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on November 13, 2017. (Hadas Parush / Flash90)
Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern, who also co-sponsored the law, m & # A similar law in the United States, known as the Taylor Force Act, had been at the origin of the Israeli bill.
"It's a historic day – it's a real step forward to reduce terror and, therefore, it will contribute to peace," he told the Times of Israel.
It does not matter if the law contributes to peace, "we can not live with We have paid our enemies to buy weapons or to educate children to kill as many innocent people as they can," Stern said.
Arab and left legislators, however, denounced the law, the deputy of the (Arabic) list Jamal Zahalka was actually Dichter, a former director of Shin Bet, who is the terrorist.
"I have no word to describe how despicable and despicable this law is; explanations are given by the former Shin Bet who is responsible for the killing of tens, if not hundreds, of people, and who claims that he is fighting terror, "Zahalka said.
"Who is the terrorist here?" Whoever listens to clbadical music, reads Kafka as he was cultured and presses the button on a plane that kills hundreds of innocent people, "he added.
Joint List (Arabic) MK Jamal Zahalka gestures during a plenum of the Knesset session on July 26, 2017. (Hadas Parush / Flash90)
MP Joint List Yosef Jabareen criticized the bill as a form of " collective punishment "and defended the payments.
"These are social allowances in order to help Palestinian families get their bread," he said. "Anyone who is in Israeli detention has been punished. The real goal is to continue to oppress the Palestinian people under occupation. "
MK Mossi Raz of the left-wing party Meretz objected that the legislation would not change anything on the ground." Extinguishing "Will the occupation come to an end?" According to the Ministry of Defense, in 2017, the 39 Palestinian Authority paid 687 million shekels ($ 198 million) to the so-called "martyrs 'family fund" and 550 million shekels ($ 160 million) to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club. – about 7% of its overall budget
Palestinian prisoners serving 20 to 30 years for terrorist attacks are entitled to a monthly stipend of 10,000 NIS ($ 2,772). AP figures Prisoners who receive a sentence of three to five years receive a monthly salary of NIS 2,000 ($ 554) Palestinian prisoners who are married, have children, live in Jerusalem or are Israeli nationality receives t additional payments.
The Ministry of Defense last month released figures that some terrorists who killed Israelis will receive more than 10 million shekels.
Palestinian women walk past a wall carrying posters, including a portrait of the famous prisoner Marwan Barghouti, at a rally in Ramallah, in support of him and other prisoners in hunger strike in April. May 24, 2017. (AFP / Abbas Momani)
Critics of the current bill have warned that it could ruin the PA, leading to its collapse.
Under an economic agreement signed in 1994, Israel transfers to the PA tens of millions of dollars each year in tariffs levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets transiting through Israeli ports.
The Palestinian Authority refused to stop payments to Palestinian prisoners. [19659003InJune2017AmArabAbbasad'spresidentclaimedontheiscounterofnationalaffairsNabilShaath"Paymentstosupportfamilieshaveasocialresponsibilitytosupportinnocentpeopleaffectedbyincarcerationortheirlaws"
"It's frankly the racist rhetoric to call all of our terrorist political prisoners," Abbas said. "They are, in reality, the victims of occupation, not the creators of the occupation."
