U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt lambasted the Palestinian Authority over the weekend for its refusal to change its policy on paying terrorists and their families, accusing the PA of faking a crisis over Israel's recent decision to deduct the amount the PA pays to terrorists from the tax funds it collects on its behalf.
Under the Paris Agreement of 1994, Israel collects taxes for the Palestinian Authority and transfers the funds to the PA government.
Israel's recent deduction of an amount equivalent to the "terrorist salaries" amounts to some 5% of the PA's total tax revenue.
"If your citizens were being routinely attacked by terrorists, which of you would tolerate a reward for a system that compensated the attackers for their crimes?" Greenblatt tweeted on Friday.
"The Palestinian Authority is refusing to accept over $150 million in revenue to protest the fact that $11 million is being withheld, only to make a political point. Does that sound like a governing authority that is concerned with the welfare of its people?" Greenblatt asked in another tweet.
Greenblatt explained that Israel's deduction of the terrorist salaries from the Palestinian tax funds was a move intended to help the Palestinians.
"Because we care about the Palestinian people, and because we want a better, brighter future for their children, we seek to ensure the Palestinian Authority puts the interests of ordinary Palestinians first," Greenblatt said.
Greenblatt added that the steps Israel has taken were intended to underscore the "fundamental moral and ethical point that terrorist violence should not be rewarded with compensation – plain and simple."
"The Palestinian Authority's institutionalization of support for terrorism is unacceptable and must be called out, unequivocally, by all of us. The time has come for everyone to stop looking the other way," Greenblatt said.
