Israel will freeze around $43 million in tax handovers to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority (PA) over its financial assistance for the families of killed or injured Palestinian martyrs.
The ruling followed Israel’s similar radically reducing in February of funds to offset PA payouts to imprisoned Palestinian militants, for which the PA countered by boycotting all tax handovers for more than half a year, stirring worries it could go bankrupt.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, though hit by abrupt U.S. funding cuts by the Trump Administration, has continued to funding stipends to the families of Palestinians detained on security charges and of those killed or wounded by Israeli occupation forces.
“This (Israeli decision) will cost us a lot,” Abbas told members of his Fatah party in the Palestinian hub city of Ramallah. “But we have rights and will not be afraid.”
Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi denounced the latest Israeli move, calling it a “blatant act of theft and political extortion.”
“This is a clear violation of Palestinian rights and signed agreements as well as a criminal act of collective punishment exacted for cynical domestic Israeli political reasons,” she said.
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