PLO official: Prisoners and “Martyrs” salaries are “legal and anchored in all international laws”

Headline: “Abu Yusuf: The salaries of the families of the Martyrs and prisoners are anchored in all of the international laws”

“Palestinian Liberation Front Secretary-General and PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Wasel Abu Yusuf… spoke about the American Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ decision to approve the law to stop the American aid to the PA (i.e., the Taylor Force Act was approved on Aug. 3, at the time of writing it is pending a senate vote –Ed.). He noted that this has no direct influence on the financial situation of the PA in light of the scope of the American [aid]. He also noted that it cannot be that aid is being conditioned in the shadow of the smearing of the Palestinian people as terrorist and the attempt to stop the money and salaries (murattabat) to the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners, and that this is a most serious matter. Additionally, he emphasized that the salaries (rawatib) of the families of the Martyrs and prisoners are legal and anchored in all of the international laws.

He explained that ‘The American government is again confirming its absolute bias towards the occupation government and its support for it, and it no longer constitutes an objective mediator for a serious political process. Therefore, the Palestinian leadership must not submit to these demands under any circumstances, and the smearing of the Palestinian people as terrorist is completely unacceptable. This is because the resistance is a right that is anchored in all of the international conventions for every people whose land is occupied.’

The secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Front emphasized that the only path before the Palestinian people is to end the [Hamas-Fatah] rift and strengthen the national unity in order to deal with these plans and adhere to popular resistance in all of its forms (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) against the occupation and settlement, until the people achieves its legal national rights – the right of return, freedom, and independence.”

[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 6, 2017]

The terms “all means,” “all means of resistance,” “all forms,” are ‎used by PA leaders to include using all types of violence, including deadly terror ‎against Israeli civilians such as stabbings and shootings, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov Cocktails.