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Abbas warns PA on the verge of ‘explosion’ over withheld tax revenues

Israel’s decision to withhold $43 million over the Palestinian Authority “pay for slay” program “has stirred emotions.”

Palestinian Fatah members hold up their weapons during a rally marking the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Dec. 31, 2019. Photo by Flash90.
Palestinian Fatah members hold up their weapons during a rally marking the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Dec. 31, 2019. Photo by Flash90.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that Israel’s decision to withhold $43 million of the tax revenues it transfers to the P.A., commensurate with the amount the P.A. pays to convicted terrorists, would lead to “an explosion.”

The P.A. pays some $11 million a month to terrorists in Israeli prisons and to their families, as part of a policy that has become known in Israel as “pay for slay.”

According to Channel 13 News report, P.A. Civil Affairs Minister Hussain al-Sheikh told Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon during a meeting on Tuesday that the Israeli decision “has stirred emotions,” and that the P.A. in Judea and Samaria “is on the brink of an explosion.”

Kahlon reported the development to Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet on Wednesday, according to the report.

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