PA PM: PA forced to take loans from banks due to financial crisis, but “we will continue to be loyal to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners”
Headline: "Shtayyeh: The financial pressure is part of an Israeli war so that we will accept the deal of the century"
"[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that our people is experiencing a financial crisis, the main cause of which is the Israeli side that has deducted the money that we pay the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners (i.e., referring to the Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law; see note below), and we refuse these money transfers as they are partial and we want them in full.
Shtayyeh explained – in a message that he conveyed to our people through a video he published on his Facebook page today, Thursday [June 6, 2019] – that the financial pressure that Israel is exerting on us is part of a financial war that is meant to push us to submission, defeat, and accepting what is called 'the deal of the century' (refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan –Ed.). He added that our people will not be defeated and will not agree to anything but justice that is based on an independent and sovereign state whose capital is Jerusalem, including the right of return for the refugees…
The prime minister noted that in recent months the [PA] government has been forced to take loans from the banks and it will continue to do so, and noted that despite the difficult circumstances, we will continue to be loyal to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners."
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.