The Palestine National Council (PNC) affirms that sponsoring and supporting prisoners and families of martyrs is a national duty that doesn’t subject neither to bargaining nor extortion.

The PNC refuses a bill approved by the Ministerial Committee for legislation. The bill targets a social program managed by the Palestine National Authority that provides financial allowances to Palestinians imprisoned in Israel and their families, those injured by the Israeli forces, and families of Palestinian martyrs-those killed by Israeli forces. The approved bill would enable Israel to deduct a large amount of money from the taxes Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

The PNC views that the aim of bill comes within a series of practices, policies, legislations that aim of defaming and staining the sanctity of the struggle of prisoners, martyrs and injured and bargaining their rights, bringing pressure on the Palestinian National Authority to stop payments to Palestinian families of martyrs, prisoners and injured.

The PNC explained that Israel in its discriminatory laws and resolutions violates signed agreements, so we cannot commit ourselves unilaterally, since Israel under Oslo peace accords has recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. In light of this, Israel cannot stigmatize its institutions as terrorist, as it happened to the Palestine National Fund which is one of the most important PLO institutions that play their role towards sponsoring the families of Palestinian martyrs and prisoners.

 The PNC stressed that all these aggressive Israeli measures will be confronted with full power by our people, their institutions based on the rules of International law and Conventions which grant our people their right to liberate our lands , defend ourselves , affirming that all measures, legislations aim is stigmatizing , defaming the Palestinian struggle.

The PNC calls upon the international community to oblige the Israeli occupation government to respect the signed agreements, save security and stability in the region before it is too late, and to put an end to boasting and disobedience of the occupation to International law principles, demanding the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and parliamentary associations to condemn the Israeli Knesset, its repeated violations and its approval of escalating laws and legislations violating   international laws, accords and conventions and even the Peace Accords signed with the Palestinian side which chiefly aimed at bringing the occupation to an end and establishing the independent Palestinian state.