The Palestinian Authority on Monday rejected Israel’s demands for helping prevent the collapse of the PA.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh vowed to continue the legal-diplomatic effort against Israel in the international arena and rejected the demand to stop payments made by the PA to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned while carrying out attacks against Israelis.
The security cabinet on Sunday decided that Israel will take steps to prevent the collapse of the PA, while advancing the demand that the Palestinians cease their activities against Israel in the international legal-diplomatic arena, end incitement, and stop payments to families of terrorists and illegal construction in Area C.
Shtayyeh, who was speaking during the weekly meeting of the PA cabinet in Ramallah, said: “Yesterday, the Israeli government came out with decisions concerning the Palestinian Authority on the pretext that they want to offer gestures to the Palestinians. On behalf of the Palestinian government, we say that what is required of Israel is to halt its aggression on our people, killings, settlements, and the piracy of our money.”
Shtayyeh and other Palestinian officials have denounced Israel’s policy of seizing funds it collects on behalf of the Palestinians as an act of “piracy” and “theft.”
Palestinian Authority's payments to terrorists continue
“The talk about conditioning the return of our money on halting our measures in international forums won’t happen,” Shtayyeh said, adding that the Palestinians would pursue their activities against Israel in the international arena.
Payments to the families of the “martyrs” and the security prisoners would continue, he said.“President [Mahmoud] Abbas has expressed this position on more than one occasion,” Shtayyeh said. He was referring to earlier statements by Abbas, who said, “Even if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners, and their families.”
The PA funds seized by Israel belong to the Palestinians and must be returned to them “unconditionally and without blackmail,” Shtayyeh said.
“Our people know these facts very well, and they reject this blackmail,” he added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also rejected the Israeli demands and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his “extremist right-wing coalition” of lying and spreading disinformation regarding its intention to prevent the collapse of the PA.
The Israeli government’s decision is an “extension of what it is doing to weaken the Palestinian Authority,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli move aims to undermine the PA’s credibility among the Palestinians, it said. “The ministry rejects any conditions made by the Israeli government to fulfill its commitments in accordance with international law and signed agreements,” the statement said.
Shtayyeh did not comment on statements by US President Joe Biden, who on Sunday told CNN the Israeli government has some of the most extreme members he has ever seen. Biden also criticized the PA, saying it had lost its credibility.
“I think that the fact that the Palestinian Authority has lost its credibility, not necessarily because of what Israel’s done, just because it’s just lost its credibility, No. 1, and No. 2, created a vacuum for extremism in the – among the Palestinians,” he said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, welcomed Biden’s statements and described them as “an unprecedented blow” to the Netanyahu government. Biden’s statements were “a step in the right direction,” it said. It called for “translating his words and positions into deeds and measures.”