Al Mezan Center for Human Rights denounced today, Tuesday, the decision of the Israeli occupation government to deduct funds from the Palestinian National Authority’s tax revenues, “clearance revenues,” which it transfers to the authority’s public treasury in accordance with the agreements signed between the two sides, especially The Paris Economic Agreement of 1994, which constitutes a violation of international law, national sovereignty, and all signed agreements, especially the rights of Palestinian families.
The cabinet of the occupation government approved, during its meeting last Sunday evening, deducting funds from the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenues “clearance proceeds”, starting from the first of next August, by deducting (597) million shekels within a year, It starts with deductions of up to NIS 50 million per month.
PCHR said that this decision is part of an organized policy pursued by the occupying state to pursue the families of Palestinians detained in its prisons and the families of martyrs, as it sought to impose legislative laws related to deducting these families´ allowances from the clearing funds that the Knesset initiated since June 2017.
According to Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Muhammad Shtayyeh. The actual deductions since 2019, until the present time, and before the last deduction decision, have reached (851) million shekels.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights stressed that the Palestinian Authority’s financial allocations for the families of martyrs, wounded and detainees, which are provided in the form of monthly salaries to these families, are considered one of the forms of social security for families who lost their main breadwinner, and that the discount’s decision constitutes piracy in broad daylight and harms the strength of these families and collective punishment against the civilian population, which in turn contributes to the deterioration of the already deteriorated humanitarian and economic conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories in general, especially in light of the continuation of Israeli violations, especially the comprehensive siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
PCHR called on the international community to intervene urgently to stop the Israeli violations and pressure the occupation authorities to retract their illegal decision, and oblige them to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, calling on the Palestinian National Authority to reconsider the Paris Economic Protocol, which may constitute an entry point for political blackmail.
