Speaking at a meeting for the Palestinian Authority government on Monday, Chairman ahmoud Abbas said that he will not accept money transfers from Israel if they are “incomplete,” WAFA reported.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki on Monday confirmed in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio that his government had for the third time rejected Israeli transfers of the taxes and fees it is due because the money had been offset by the amount intended to pay the salaries of terrorists behind bars and the families of killed terrorists.
Al-Maliki added that the transfers were made each time to Arab banks without the knowledge of the PA Finance Ministry, and that every time the PA had learned of bank transfers by Israel to local Arab banks, It returned the transfers to the Israeli Finance Ministry, with an official notice that the PA is willing to accept the money provided that it is transferred without any offsetting.
Former PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Ashraf al-Ajrami told Reshet Bet radio on Monday that “the PA refuses to accept the money because Israel is violating the agreements.”
He added that the situation in the Palestinian Authority is “totally bad, not only the economic situation, the political situation, the construction in the settlements, everything the government has done in Israel and in the United States leads to a state of disappointment and even despair. [The taxes and fees] constitute more than 60% of the Palestinian Authority’s revenues, it cannot function.”
Asked if the PA is on the way to collapse, al-Ajrami replied in the affirmative.
“I believe that come the month of May, the PA will take significant steps regarding everything connected to its ties with Israel,” al-Ajrami stressed. “I don’t know exactly what the steps will be, but some of them may include declaring unequivocally that the Oslo agreement is dead and that there is no longer a PA commitment to everything borne by the Oslo Accords, this will be one of the steps.”
“And therefore, we will be in a state of total disengagement with Israel, which will bear responsibility for what will happen in the Palestinian territories,” he warned.
PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Sunday told Norway’s special envoy for the Middle East peace process Tor Wennesland that the PA would not accept the continuation of the status quo and will reconsider the political, legal, economic, and security relationship with Israel.
Shtayyeh stressed the need to create an international alliance to face the US’ “Deal of the Century” and to come out with a clear political position emphasizing that there is no alternative to the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.
Likud MK Avi Dichter told Reshet Bet radio on Monday that “8% of the PA budget goes to paying salaries to terrorists. So when it comes to stability, they will have to understand – it is impossible to pay and finance terror, and at the same time ask Israel to take care of their stability. So we will pay the part they deserve, we will transfer that part of the money.”
“You have to stand firm and tell [Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas – your money is in our bank, you can take it at any time,” Dichter continued. “Whatever you will do, take it, not take it, what that would it do to the stability of the Palestinian Authority, it’s your problem.”