For 2nd month, Palestine public salaries cut by half

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Palestinian government will pay civil servants half their salaries for the second month in a row, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Finance Ministry announced Monday.

“The government will only pay 50 percent of this month’s salaries,” the ministry said in a statement.

The move comes after Israel decided to withhold taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the same amount that the PA pays monthly stipends out to the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israel.

Israel claims that the stipends are being paid out to the families of Palestinians involved in attacks on Israelis.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decried the Israeli measure, saying his government would continue to pay out the stipends.

On Sunday evening, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon reportedly ordered that 42 million Israeli shekels (roughly $11 million) in tax revenues be withheld from the PA over the course of 2019.

Israel collects roughly $175 million in monthly taxes on Palestinian imports and exports on behalf of the PA, for which tax revenue represents the main source of income.