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A senior Palestinian official strongly condemned on Tuesday a new Israeli law that will freeze money transfers to the Palestinian Authority to punish his payments to the families of those incarcerated for attacks.
Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization, This measure threatened the existence of the Palestinian Authority run out of money.
Legislation was passed Monday night giving the Israeli government the power to withhold money based on what is paid to prisoners and their families by the PA.
Israel receives about $ 127 million per month in tariffs on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports and then transfer them to the Palestinian Authority.
"It's a very dangerous decision that equates to the Palestinian Authority and is piracy and theft," Erekat told AFP.
"Israel steals the land and money of the Palestinian people and it is a result of the decisions of President (Donald) Trump, who supports Israel."
A godfather of the law says that Palestinian Authority pays about $ 330 million a year to prisoners and their families, accounting for 7% of its budget.
US legislation that was promulgated in March also retains aid to the Palestinian Authority for payments to families of prisoners and families of those killed in attacks.
The law, known as the "Taylor Force Act," is named after an American military veteran and graduate student who was killed in an attack in 2016 while he was visiting Israel.
Israel says payments to families of Palestinians imprisoned for security offenses or killed by Israeli forces during attacks encourage
Many Palestinians see prisoners and those killed in attacks as heroes or "Martyrs" in the struggle against the Israeli occupation
Payments can be an important source of income for families, who have often lost their main breadwinner.
The Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the adoption of the new law: "All schekel (president) Mahmoud Abbas will automatically pay terrorists and murderers. of the Palestinian Authority budget.
"An effective war against terrorism also goes hand in hand – terrorists, their families and Mahmoud Abbas."
Israel has withheld payments in the past, notably in response to the admission of Palestinians to UNESCO as a full member in 2011.
The Palestinian Authority, which has limited sovereignty in parts of the occupied West Bank, depends heavily on external financial assistance.
is perceived as a blatant bias of the Trump administration and has frozen relations with the White House after recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year.
But while prisoner payments have sparked outrage in Israel and elsewhere, Israeli authorities are also benefiting from security coordination with the Palestinian Authority and may be reluctant to see financial cuts that significantly affect that.
Abbas Fatah movement dominates the West Bank-based PA, while its Hamas controls the Gaza Strip
Hamas and Israel have waged three wars since the Islamists invaded Gaza there More than a decade ago
jlr-na-jod-mjs / kir
A woman walks past a graffiti depicting the most famous Palestinian prisoner in Israel. Marwan Barghouti, who is venerated by Palestinians but vilified by many Israelis for his role in the second Palestinian intifada of 2002-2005, which earned him five terms
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