Abbas: “We will not agree that our Martyrs be considered terrorists… we will not agree that [Israel] deduct even one penny from their money… the Martyrs, wounded, and prisoners are the holiest things we have”
Posted text: "*[PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] in the Jalazone [refugee] camp: We will remain in our homeland and nobody can move us from here, and those that happen to be on the land do not have a right to this country.
*The Muslims and the Christians in this country are brothers, and the Christians are not a minority; the Christians are members of the people, the churches are our churches, the temples are our temples, and the Christians are our relatives and our brothers until the Day of Judgment…
*We have said to them, and we say to the entire world: No to the deal of shame. We said: No to the Warsaw meeting, no to the Manama meeting (i.e., refers to US-led conference in Bahrain in June 2019 focusing on economic aspects of US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan), and no to anything that the Palestinian people does not accept.
*We will not agree that our Martyrs be considered terrorists; our Martyrs are the homeland’s Martyrs and we will not agree that [Israel] deduct even one penny from their money (i.e., referring to Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law to deduct terror salaries; see note below). All of their money will return to them as the Martyrs, wounded, and prisoners are the holiest things we have."
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.