PLO legislative council: We reject Israeli attempt to make Palestinian people “renounce its financial rights by taking control of the Palestinian tax money”; occupation has been “more than 70 years”
"A delegation from the Palestinian National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) reviewed the Palestinian economic situation during a parliamentary meeting that was held last Thursday and Friday [July 4-5, 2019] in the Italian city of Milan, which was organized by the economic committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean…
The Palestinian delegation explained that for the last six months the occupation government has been attempting to make the Palestinian people renounce its financial rights by taking control of the Palestinian tax money (referring to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct terror salaries; see note below –Ed.) that it collects for a fee, and which is estimated to be $200 million a month. The Palestinian side has rejected the occupation government’s decision to deduct what the Palestinian institutions are paying for the care of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, and refuses to accept a partial sum. This has led to the Palestinian government experiencing a severe economic crisis, and it is acting according to an emergency plan since the beginning of the current year [2019], and it is expected that the situation will still worsen due to the American-Israeli financial siege and the extreme decrease in funding for the Palestinian budget…
The delegation also emphasized that the Palestinian position has rejected in the past and will not agree in the future to turn to an economic solution for its cause after more than 70 years of Israeli occupation.”
Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... 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] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.