Abbas Fires Advisers Amid Financial Crunch

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has fired all of his advisers amid a major budgetary crisis that has prompted deep salary cuts. The PA is feeling the pinch of US President Donald Trump’s decision last year to cut-off hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect aid to Ramallah. The PA has already reduced by half the salaries of thousands of civil servants to compensate for its refusal to accept any of the estimated $1.2 billion in annual taxes and tariffs collected on behalf of and distributed to Ramallah by Israeli authorities in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords. That decision was made after Jerusalem passed a law to withhold $10 million dollars per month from the money dispersed to the PA, which is roughly equivalent to what Abbas’ government pays to Palestinian prisoners and to the families of those killed while perpetrating terror attacks against Israelis.