Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking in front of a delegation of US congressmen and members of America’s J-Street organization, bemoaned a decision by Israel to cut the tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinians because the PA pays salaries to terrorists and their families.
In the video, recorded February 19 and translated from Arabic to English by Middle East Research Institute, Abbas admits that, “Since 1965, we have been paying them and their families… If we had only 20 to 30 million shekels, which is the monthly sum paid for the families of the martyrs, we would still pay it to them.
“If the PA doesn’t have anything but that amount,” Abbas continued, “I will pay it to the families of the martyrs, the prisoners and the wounded.”
After Israel’s announced earlier this month that it would withhold the tax money, Abbas decided not to accept any tax money from Israel at all.
A spokesperson for the PA, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said that “the Palestinian Authority views the approval of the decision to deduct funds as a robbery of the Palestinian people's money and as a unilateral violation of the agreements signed between the two sides, such as the Paris agreement.”
Abu Rudeina added that the decision will have “dangerous consequences on all levels.”