Israel edges closer to legalising deducting prisoners’ salaries from PA taxes

Israel’s former defence minister and head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party Avigdor Lieberman [Latvian Foreign Ministry/Flickr]

Palestinian Tax Revenues – Cartoon [Sarwar Ahmed/MiddleEastMonitor]

Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation yesterday approved a bill which allows occupation forces to deduct the salaries of Palestinian prisoners, freed prisoners and martyrs’ families from taxes collected on behalf of Palestinian Authority (PA), Arab48 reported.

According to the bill, the money would instead be reallocated to finance projects that arrest and detain Palestinians deemed suspicious and improve civil infrastructure for settlers.

Proposed by the Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the bill is to be discussed one more time before being proposed at the Knesset.

Sources said that the Israeli Ministry of Finance rejects deducting the salaries from the PA tax money as well as the transfer of the funds to help settlers.

Following the approval, Lieberman wrote on Twitter that “soon” the funds will be used to “compensate victims” in reference to illegal settlers living on occupied Palestinian territories.

Read: PA restarts payments to Palestinian prisoners, in West Bank only

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