PLO Executive Committee adheres to right of return, refuses partial Israeli tax transfers as “robbery, theft, and stealing”
Headline: "The [PLO] Executive Committee rejected the statements of Kushner against the [PA] leadership and emphasized its adherence to the right of return"
"The PLO Executive Committee rejected the statements of [US] President [Donald] Trump’s Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, who attacked the Palestinian leadership and talked about the end of the refugees' right of return after the failure of the Manama workshop [in Bahrain] to attempt to sell illusions in the region through the billions that they are talking about, in an attempt to exchange the Palestinian rights for money and hypothetical projects (i.e., refers to US-led conference in Bahrain in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of Trump's Middle East peace plan).
In a statement that it published after its advisory meeting yesterday [July 4, 2019], the Executive Committee emphasized the position of the Palestinian leadership, factions, and people, which has emphasized the adherence to our people’s rights – which are based on the sacrifices it has made along the path of its struggle under the leadership of the PLO, our people’s sole legal representative – that include the refugees’ right of return based on [UN] Resolution 194 (see note below –Ed.), the right of self-determination, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty in the borders of June 4, 1967, whose capital is Jerusalem…
The Executive Committee also emphasized the national decision to refuse to accept the partial tax money (refers to Israeli Anti “Pay-for-Slay” law to deduct terror salaries; see note below –Ed.), and noted that this money is a Palestinian right that is not subject to robbery, theft, and stealing that Israel is committing as part of the economic siege imposed on the Palestinian people and its leadership."
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."
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.