PLO official vows to continue terrorist salaries

Official PA TV News, on an Israeli bill to deduct the amount the PA pays in terror salaries from the tax money Israel collects for the PA, telephone interview with Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake

Official PA TV host: "Israel is looting the Palestinian people’s money, this time through laws that it legislated today..."
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake: "This is clear theft and piracy in broad daylight... Israel strives not only to hold the money on the pretext of [PA] support for the families of the prisoners and the Martyrs - it wants to define the Palestinian people’s entire struggle as a 'crime' and those who have resisted the occupation as 'criminals.' This is the resistance of our Palestinian people, which is guaranteed by the international and humanitarian laws...
We will continue despite the pressures, threats, and blackmail.  We will continue to take care of and help the families of our prisoners and our Martyrs, we won't abandon them."
Click to view bulletin

The Israeli bill referred to in the program was later passed into law:
Law to deduct terror salaries from PA tax money - A law to deduct the amount of money the PA pays imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA, which was passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. The law freezes the deducted money and has Israel hold it indefinitely. Should the PA not pay terrorists' salaries or allowances to families of "Martyrs" for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA.
During the vote on the law, Israeli Parliament Member and Chairman of the Israeli Parliament Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avi Dichter said: “The [Israeli Parliament] Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations - from the families of terror victims and those wounded by terror attacks who came to the discussions and shared their views with us, and with them were people from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018]

Re. Karake’s claim that “the resistance of our Palestinian people… is guaranteed by the international and humanitarian laws” -
PA leaders and officials have legitimized Palestinian violence by quoting UN resolution 3236 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence against civilians, but has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means."