14 Members of Congress call to stop aid to PA, citing PMW documentation - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

PMW sends evidence of PA violation of the Taylor Force Act to the Secretary of State and Congress

Last week, Palestinian Media Watch sent a report to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with copies to members of Congress documenting that the Palestinian Authority had failed to implement the four conditions demanded by the Taylor Force Act, and thus were ineligible for further American funding.

Following PMW's report, 14 members of Congress sent a letter to the Secretary of State citing the documentation in PMW's report, and concluding: "... we urge you to immediately suspend all aid payments to the Palestinian Authority." [Washington Free Beacon, May 1, 2018]

PMW's report exposed that the Palestinian Authority budget for 2018 includes payments to terrorists and the families of so-called "Martyrs." PMW's report also included the following statement by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas explicitly rejecting America's demands to stop paying salaries to terrorist prisoners:

From PMW's report p. 2:
 

Even before the Taylor Force Act (TFA) was signed into law and before the PA demonstrated its rejection through its budget, the PA publicly announced that it rejected the demands of the TFA:

a)    PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the PLO Central Council:

"There is something that the Americans are telling us to stop - the salaries of the Martyrs and the Martyrs' families. Of course, we categorically reject this. We will not under any circumstances allow anyone to harm the families of the prisoners, the wounded, and the Martyrs. They are our children and they are our families. They honor us, and we will continue to pay them before the living."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 14, 2018]

 Click to view video of Abbas

This statement by Abbas from PMW's report openly rejecting the American request and the terms of the Taylor Force Act was quoted in its entirety by the 14 members of Congress in their letter to the Secretary of State (see yellow below).

The following is the letter:

[Washington Free Beacon, May 1, 2018]

The Taylor Force Act - a bill named after US citizen Taylor Force who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv on March 8, 2016, which calls to cut almost all funding to the PA if it continues paying salaries to terrorists and allowances to families of "Martyrs." On March 23, 2018, the bill was approved by the American Congress and signed into law by US President Donald Trump.

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Source: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=25583

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Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.