Fatah Central Committee Member Jamal Muhaisen: PA President Abbas Will Never Stop Salaries of Prisoners and "Martyrs"

Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would "never make a decision to stop the salaries of the prisoners and the martyrs," despite the possibility of a "financial blockade" if U.S. aid to the PA becomes conditional upon the cessation of such aid. A legislative bill to this effect was approved by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on August 3. "The martyrs are like crowns on our heads, and the prisoners are our knights," said Muhaisen, stressing that "we have the right to fight the occupation through any means." He was speaking on the official PA TV channel on August 10.

Jamal Muhaisen: "I would like to make it clear to everybody: President Abu Mazen, the Palestinian leader, will never make a decision to stop the salaries of the prisoners and the martyrs. The martyrs are like crowns on our heads, and the prisoners are our knights. Over 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned in Israeli prisons. Do they want to hold the prisoners accountable, instead of the jailers? We demand freedom and independence, and therefore, we have the right to fight the occupation through any means. Our youth adhere to the decisions of the leadership.

"For years, our Palestinian youth have been adhering to the decisions of our leadership, when it comes to the peaceful and popular struggle, despite the daily Israeli incursions into our cities, and the detentions it carries out under flimsy pretexts. Therefore, let me stress once again, with regard to the financial blockade that the U.S. might impose on us: Perhaps Netanyahu himself is asking Trump not to abide by the Congressional decision [to stop U.S. aid to the PA]. He knows what starving the Palestinian people would mean. Starving the Palestinian people would mean violence in the entire region as well, whether the Americans and the Israelis want it or not."