RAMALLAH, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat accused on Sunday Israel of attempting to destroy the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The remark came just before the Israeli cabinet discussed the advancement of a new bill to allow Israeli authorities to deduct millions of U.S. dollars of PA's tax revenues equivalent to the amount of money that PA pays to families of prisoners and those slain by Israel.
Erekat told the official Palestinian radio station that "what Israel intends to do is to cut salaries paid to prisoners ... which is part of the Israeli-U.S. scheme that aims at destroying the PA."
He added that this is part of the "Deal of Century" that the U.S. administration is working on for peace in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that his government will convene on Sunday to approve the draft bill that would approve the deduction of financial allocations paid by the PA to families of of those imprisoned or slain by Israel.
Last July, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed a new bill, allowing Israeli authorities to deduct millions of dollars from the Palestinian tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA.
According to the bill, a special committee will put away the money into a fund and can only approve to pay it back if the PA stops its financial aid to the prisoners' families.
Palestinian officials described the law as "theft" and accused Israel of using it for political pressure and collective punishment.
The senior PLO official said that a higher committee was appointed to implement orders of the Palestinian Central Council one month ago.
He added that the committee will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to discuss upcoming steps.
