RAMALLAH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) caretaker government Rami Hamdallah said on Sunday that the government has decided to pay full salaries of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the families of those killed by Israeli forces.
Two weeks ago, Israeli government decided to withhold around 138 million U.S. dollars in tax revenues that Israel collects from the Palestinian trade on behalf of the PA.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in response that he will not accept the tax revenues if any amount of it was to be deducted.
The PA government announced on Wednesday that it has returned the tax revenues to Israel after the latter deducted over 12 million dollars.
Israeli recently announced that it will start implementing a new law passed by the Israeli Knesset (parliament) last July, 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. Enditem
