Why Abbas risks an economic collapse of the PA
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to soon implement the law on deducting terrorists’ salaries, yet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas knows that on the day he stops payments, the Palestinians themselves will bring him down.
The Knesset passed the "pay-to-slay" law in July 2018, which enables the government to withhold tax money from the Palestinian Authority (PA) as long as it continues to pay stipends to Palestinian assailants in Israeli prisons and to their families.
Although the Knesset passed the law seven months ago, the Israeli government continued to transfer taxpayer money it collects for the PA to the Palestinian authorities as usual. Not one shekel has been deducted from it. The defense establishment hoped that no one in Israel would notice. They were concerned that any attempt to deduct those costs would lead to an escalation of violence, a threat that was exacerbated when Congress passed the Taylor Force Act in March 2018, cutting American financial aid to the PA.
On Feb. 1, senior PLO officials Saeb Erekat and Hanan Ashrawi exchanged angry and provocative tweets with President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt. In their own ways and using their own particular styles, both officials reminded him that Jerusalem is not for sale and the Palestinians have no interest in appearing before American courts, which can require them to pay compensation for American citizens killed by Palestinian terrorists. Greenblatt already has a miserable relationship with Erekat, so his response should come as no surprise: “So let me get this clear: You want only benefits and no responsibilities?”
The 1994 Paris Protocol signed between the Israelis and Palestinians put some order into the various economic issues between the two parties. It included the provision that Israel would collect various taxes for the PA and transfer the money to it after necessary deductions such as import taxes on goods destined for the PA. The problem is that over the years, Israel exploited this agreement to apply pressure to the PA and manipulate it.
