JERUSALEM, July 3, 2018 (WAFA) – Palestinian-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, from the Joint List, blasted on Tuesday a new Israeli law that allows the government to withhold from the Palestinian Authority (PA) what amounts to the allowances the PA allocates to families of Palestinians held by Israel for resisting its occupation and those murdered by Israeli forces describing the law as armed robbery.
The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed in second and third readings on Monday the bill that allows the withholding of the money from the PA custom revenues Israel collects on its behalf on goods entering through its ports. The PA does not have any control over its borders. The allowance amounts to $6 million a month, while Israel collects over $120 million every month in customs.
“The occupation is the occupation. You worship individuals who massacred Palestinian and Jordanian families such as Meir Har Tzion, and we consider him a murderer and a terrorist. You give allowances to these families indirectly. In return, you call the fighters and martyrs of the Palestinian people terrorists and you pass this law, which is armed robbery of the allocations of the Palestinian people which you collect and charge 3% commission. This is theft and robbery," Tibi told the Knesset.
"Every time you come up with a new fascist, racist and extremist bill and idea without affecting the morale of the Palestinian people. Today I was at an event marking the fourth anniversary for the burning alive of the child Mohammed Abu Khudair by Jewish extremists without you considering cutting the national insurance allowance from his murderers. Two weeks ago, some of the settlers chanted ‘Where is Ali ... Ali is on the grill’ in front of the Lydda court and in front of the child Ali Dawabsha’s grandfather before the eyes of the Israeli police who said nothing.”
Tibi added: "You can pass whatever racist and extremist laws you want. You can usurp the rights, rape the land and burn our children. But we remind you of what we say and believe: You will never be able to break the will of the Palestinian people living under occupation who are aspiring for their freedom."
M.K.
