Government condemns Israel’s decision to cut $138 in Palestinian tax revenues

Ramallah (QNN) – The Palestinian cabinet condemned on Tuesday Israel’s approval of a bill deducting the salaries of the Palestinian political detainees and the families of Palestinian martyrs off the tax revenues collected by the occupation’s government on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

During its weekly meeting in Ramallah, the cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, slammed Israel’s decision to deduct from the Palestinian tax revenues as “political blackmail”, saying it was ready to cope with such a punitive measure.

The cabinet called upon the international community “to act immediately against Israel, the Occupying Power, to stop using Palestinian funds as a tool of collective punishment.”

The Cabinet also called on Arab countries to “revive the Arab financial safety net to enable the Palestinian citizens to confront such punitive Israeli measures.”

Additionally, the cabinet condemned the recent closure of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem “by the Israeli forces and their systematic attacks on Palestinian worshipers as a part of the ongoing attempts of Israel, the Occupying Power, to change the historical status in Occupied Jerusalem and the Al- Aqsa Mosque.”