Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud AbbasFlash 90

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Wednesday he would not accept partial payment of tax transfers owed by Israel, following the Cabinet’s decision to implement the policy to offset the PA’s payments to terrorists.

"We shall not accept the (tax) money if it is not paid in full," Abbas told a central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Ramallah, according to the AFP news agency.

On Sunday, Israel's security cabinet approved the freezing of 507,697,000 shekels ($140,350,300) over the PA’s payments to prisoners jailed for attacks on Israelis.

Abbas also said once again on Wednesday he would not end financial support for the families of terrorists imprisoned or killed by Israel.

"Every penny available will be allocated to the families of martyrs and prisoners," he said.

The PA chairman made similar comments on Tuesday after meeting members of the leftist US organization J Street.

"Israel claims that the Palestinian Authority transfers funds to terrorists and therefore wants to offset these funds," Abbas said, according to Channel 13 News. "So I say that we do not want to receive these funds and every penny we have - we will transfer to the families of the martyrs."

Earlier this week, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh warned Israel of “repercussions” over its decision to offset the payments to terrorists.

Abbas claimed on Wednesday that Israel's decision to withhold the funds was meant to pressure Palestinians to accept a peace deal being prepared by US President Donald Trump.

The US plans are to be formally presented after Israel's April 9 elections. Abbas has already rejected the US peace plan and has been boycotting US officials ever since Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December of 2017.

PA officials have remained defiant and have made clear that the PA will never cease paying terrorists' salaries, threatening that Netanyahu would have to pay more if the salaries were deducted from the payments to the PA.

Abbas has in the past called the PA's continued payments to terrorists a "red line" that would not be halted under any circumstances.