PA refuses to stop supporting terrorism despite Israeli actions
“Yesterday [Aug. 1, 2022], during its weekly meeting, the [PA] government listened to a report by [PA] Minister of Education [Marwan Awratani] and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs [Adnan Al-Husseini] on the occupation authorities’ decision to cancel the licenses of six schools [in East Jerusalem] and pressure them to change their curricula (i.e., renewal of their licenses was conditioned on removing content inciting to terror from their curricula).
The two ministers emphasized that all the legal procedures will be taken and that diplomatic contacts will be held with ambassadors and consuls of friendly states to pressure Israel to cancel the decision, since it contradicts international law.
The two ministers noted that they intend to make efforts… in the coming days and weeks to fight the Israeli attempts to Israelize and harm the education in the occupied city. The government decided to provide the needed aid to the schools in Jerusalem in order to defend them and preserve their curricula and identity…
[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the Israeli government’s decision to deduct a sum of 600 million [Israeli] shekels (approximately $178 million -Ed.) from the Palestinian tax money is arbitrary and illegal (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.). He noted that this is tantamount to piracy that will add another dimension to our financial crisis, but said that this will not dissuade us from standing by our commitments towards the families of the prisoners and the Martyrs.”
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.