Ahmed Bahar first deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) has strongly denounced the Palestinian Authority (PA) for halting the payment of salaries to 37 lawmakers from the parliamentary Change and Reform Bloc of Hamas.
In a press release on Sunday Bahar described the step as “a declaration of war on the PLC and its democratically elected members” and “a violation of the Palestinian law.”
The lawmaker expressed his belief that depriving the Hamas MPs in the West Bank of their salaries was related to the recent measures that were taken against Gaza to punish its population for their rallying around the Palestinian resistance.
He warned that the PLC could take legal action against the PA to force it to pay the financial rights of the lawmakers as well as the prisoners and all the civil servants who were recently deprived of their monthly payments.
Bahar urged the concerned international and UN organizations to assume their responsibilities in this regard and intervene to stop the executive authority of Mahmoud Abbas from taking such arbitrary measures against the elected representatives of the people.
