RAMALLAH, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) will continue to pay the "salaries" of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel and those killed by Israeli forces despite Israel's decision to deduct the money, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.
"We will not allow the deduction or the prevention of salaries for martyrs and prisoners as some try," Abbas said in a ceremony to honor prisoners at his office in Ramallah. "Even if we have one penny, it will be spent on martyrs' and prisoners' families."
Abbas also said, "Prisoners, ex-prisoners and martyrs are [the] stars in the sky of the Palestinian people's struggle and they have priority in everything."
The Knesset, Israel's parliament, passed a bill on July 3 to directly deduct the money, about 300 million U.S. dollars annually, from the taxes Israel collects from Palestinians on behalf of the PA.
Under the Oslo peace accords signed by the two sides in 1993 and 1995. Israel collects taxes and customs duties from Palestinians and transfers around 1 billion dollars a year to the PA.
Over 6,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israel, including dozens who have spent more than 20 years in detention.
