by Shlomo Cesana, Mati Tuchfeld, Efrat Forsher, Lilach Shoval, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Series of deadly terrorist attacks see ministers approve cutting tax funds given to PA, imposing a closure on Hebron, and revoking thousands of work permits • "Payouts to terrorists and their relatives constitute an incentive to murder," PM's office says.
Education Minister Naftali
Bennett and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [Archive]
Photo credit: Oren Ben Hakoon
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The Diplomatic-Security Cabinet convened a
special session on Saturday night in which it approved a series of new
measures meant to quell the recent surge in Palestinian terrorism.
The meeting was called in the wake of the
brutal murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13, who was stabbed to death in her
Kiryat Arba home on Thursday, and a deadly shooting on Route 60, in the
South Hebron Hills, Friday, in which Rabbi Michael Mark, 48, a father
of 10 and the director of the Otniel Yeshiva was killed. Mark's wife and
two of his children were wounded in the attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Avigdor Lieberman met prior to the cabinet meeting to formulate
the steps to be presented to the ministers.
The measures approved Saturday including
imposing a closure on the city of Hebron, which is home to some 700,000
Palestinians; revoking the work and travel permits granted to some 2,700
residents of the Palestinian village of Bani Naim, east of Hebron, the
home of the terrorist who murdered Ariel; and increasing military
deployment in Judea and Samaria.
Since the recent wave of terrorism erupted
last fall, the greater Hebron area has proven to be a hotbed of radical
terrorist activity, as the majority of its residents are Hamas
sympathizers.
Additional measures included approving the
construction of 42 housing units in Kiryat Arba; launching
investigations into the extended family of each terrorist, including
wide-scale arrests; repealing the mitigations granted to Palestinians
ahead of Eid al-Fitr ("festival of breaking of the fast"), which marks
the end of Ramadan; and suspending the return of terrorists' remains.
The cabinet also decided to reduce the monthly
transfers of taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority,
effective immediately. The amount deducted from approximately $130
million monthly will correspond with the stipends the PA pays the
families of Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israel and those who were
killed while carrying out attacks.
"Incitement and payouts to terrorists and
their relatives constitute an incentive to murder," the Prime Minister's
Office said in a statement.
According to Israeli Intelligence, the PA's
payments to the families of deceased and jailed terrorists amounted to
some $24.3 million a month in 2015.
Should Israel deduct the sum in full, it would
potentially constitute a cut of between 16% and 18% of the tax
revenue transferred to the Palestinian Authority every month.
A Palestinian official slammed the decision.
"The decision to freeze a part of the tax revenues is a theft and piracy
of money that belongs to the Palestinian people," Wasel Abu Youssef, of
the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, the escalation in terrorist
activity has strained the relationship between Netanyahu and Habayit
Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett further.
Prior to the cabinet meeting, Bennett released
a list of counterterrorism measures he demanded the cabinet approve,
saying "viral terrorism can't be stopped by a simple closure."
Bennett's plan included demand to arrest, jail
or expel terrorists' families, based on any statement of support for
attacks; the immediate razing of thousands of illegal Palestinian
buildings across Judea and Samaria, which have already been slated to be
demolished; disrupting internet access, and especially access to
Facebook, in the Hebron area; arresting known Hamas operatives in Judea
and Samaria; and re-arresting Palestinian prisoners released as part of
the 2011 Schalit deal if there is clear indication they violated the
terms of their release over the past two years.
Other demands Bennett presented including
preventing the Palestinian Authority from paying stipends to terrorists'
families; approving the construction of two new neighborhoods in Kiryat
Arba; halting Palestinian traffic on Route 60, launching a limited
counterterrorism operation across Judea and Samaria; and allowing the
IDF to operate freely in Area A and Area B.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Area A is under
full Palestinian civil and security control, while Area B is under
Palestinian civil control and shared Israeli-Palestinian security
control.
Kiryat Arba Deputy Mayor Yisrael Bramson on Saturday
criticized the cabinet's decision to approve construction in the town as
"a bluff. This construction was approved months ago and it's already
underway."
Shlomo Cesana, Mati Tuchfeld, Efrat Forsher, Lilach Shoval, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=34715
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