![Former Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Istanbul, Turkey on 18 May 2018 [Berk Özkan/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/20180518_2_30457703_33882556.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Outgoing Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said yesterday that the Palestinian leadership will deal without the consequences of Israeli cuts to tax revenues, Al-Watan Voice reported.
His remarks came in response to the Israeli deduction of taxes collected on behalf of the PA which are used to pay the salaries of Palestinians killed, wounded or imprisoned by Israel.
The PA official accused Israel of defying the international will as it continues annexing Palestinian land and resources, as well as carrying out forceful deportations in Jerusalem and attempts to rid it of its original residents, and tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip.
READ: PA calls on EU to intervene after Israel withholds taxes
All of this is done by Israel to blackmail the Palestinians, he said, and undermine the attempts to create an independent, sovereign and geographically connected Palestinian state.
“We have stressed we will not be subject to extortion and we will overcome the current crisis,” he said. “We will rearrange our priorities and we will reorganise our spending to keep up with the new challenges in order to fulfill our obligations towards our people,” he added.
Hamdallah stressed that the “most important” issue today is to support PA President Mahmoud Abbas and to support his stances ahead of these challenges.
READ: EU slams Israel’s deduction of $138m of PA tax revenues