Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: PA Facing Financial Crisis, But We Refuse to Accept Money from Israel If Salary of Martyrs' Families Is Deducted

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in an April 29, 2019 address that aired on PA TV (Palestinian Authority) that the PA is facing a financial crisis because the Israeli government has decided to deduct the salary that the PA pays to families of martyrs, prisoners, and wounded Palestinians from money it owes to the PA. However, he stressed that the PA will refuse to accept money from Israel if any sum whatsoever is deducted from it. Abbas also said that European support for a two-state solution is a good thing considering that it is Europe that "invented" Zionism and Israel. Abbas further claimed that the Palestinian system of democracy is better than many of the world's most important democracies because it is not plagued by election fraud, like he said the U.S. is. Furthermore, he said that the PA has asked other Arab countries for a loan of $100 million per month that will be paid off as soon as Israel acquiesces to the PA's demands and pays the money it owes in full. He said that he does not have high hopes that the Arabs will agree to such an arrangement.

Following are excerpts:

Mahmoud Abbas: Our life is full of hardships, but some hardships can be overcome with some effort, while some hardships are very difficult to overcome. The hardships we are about to face are very difficult, for many reasons. First of all, as of late, we have had a financial crisis on our hands – a financial crisis that was brought about by the Israeli government, when it decided to deduct [from money it owes us] the sum [that we pay to the families] of the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded. Our position on this issue was, and still is, clear: We refuse to receive the money if any amount is missing from it, especially the amount [that we pay to the families of] the martyrs, or any other amount that they owe us.

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The European position – and I do not want to say that it is 100% just – has started to [show] understanding. Therefore, Mrs. Mogherini said in the Arab League summit in Tunisia: "We support the two-state solution, and we are against moving [embassies] to Jerusalem and other matters." Of course, not everything is in our favor, but it is a good thing that such a position is coming from Europe. this is what we have historically become used to, because as you know… It is Europe that invented – and this slightly annoys our neighbors… [Europe] invented Zionism and Israel. Let's not fool ourselves. This is what history says. Whoever has something that refutes this history, go ahead…

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Let me tell you – and I am not bragging – that we have a democracy that is better than that of many of the most important democratic countries in the world. For example, there is election fraud in the United States. What proves this is the talk about election fraud and [foreign] interference. We did not have any election fraud here.

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Of course, we have asked the [Arab] brothers for a safety net. Allah willing… I mean, we do not have high hopes, but Allah willing, something will happen. We asked for 100 million dollars…

Question: A month?

Mahmoud Abbas: Yes, as a safety net. We told them that we will take it as a debt… We will take it as a loan. Give it to us and we will give it back. We will give your money back, especially since Israel will give back the money it took from us, sooner or later. But [Israel] will return the money according to our terms, not theirs. As soon as we get our money, we will pay our debt to you. Even on the debt offer, we have not received a response. But we have to endure and be patient.