By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
PA Chairman Abbas and numerous other Palestinian Authority leaders have rejected the demands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, and many other governments and legislators to stop the payments of salaries to imprisoned terrorists.
Following the demand made by Israel and just before Abbas’ meeting with Trump last week, Director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake announced Abbas’ “absolute refusal”:
“The President [Abbas] emphasized his absolute refusal of the Israeli demands to stop the allowances of the families of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids), and emphasized his absolute support for them (i.e., for the payments).'”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, April 29, 2017]
There are two recurring Palestinian defenses of the payments. (See additional sources below.) The first is that the prisoners are not terrorists but “freedom fighters” and therefore rightfully are being rewarded. The second claim is that the payments are actually “social welfare for the families,” and therefore not a reward for terror. Both of these claims are false.
First, the overwhelming majority of prisoners are not “fighters” who participated in any combat with soldiers but are terrorists who targeted civilians. Terrorists like Abdullah Barghouti who built the bombs that murdered 67 civilians at the Hebrew University, in cafés, and on buses cannot be called a “fighter.” Marwan Barghouti, who is currently leading the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike, planned several shooting attacks in which 5 were murdered. This is cold-blooded murder and does not turn him into a “fighter.” Nonetheless, each has received nearly nearly $200,000 in PA salaries. Few of the 6,500 Palestinian prisoners actually confronted Israeli soldiers as “fighters.”
Second, the claim that the payments are social welfare for wives and children is likewise false. According to the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs report in 2010 63% of the prisoners at that time were single and yet they received the same high basic salaries, up to 12,000 shekels a month, depending on length of time in prison. Moreover, Palestinian law explicitly refers to the payments of salaries (Arabic = Rawatib). In addition, when the salaries get high enough the PA government withholds income tax as with all salaries.
Finally, Palestinian Media Watch has documented a case in which a prisoner’s wife complained that she and her children were not receiving the prisoner’s salary. The Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs responded that although the prisoner should have given the money to his wife and children, the minister could not force him to since it was his personal salary.
PA TV journalist to wife of prisoner:”For nearly four years, the prisoner’s allowance from the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs… has not reached your hands and your children’s hands… Did you try to turn to the authorities?”
Prisoner’s wife:”A year and a half ago, I went to the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs… Their answer was: ‘Your husband transfers it to the person he wants. It’s in his power not to transfer [it to you] and we can’t do anything about it.”
[Feb. 17, 2013, April 17, 2014]
In recent weeks, as international pressure has grown, there have been numerous statements by Palestinian leaders rejecting international requests to stop rewarding salaries to terrorists and allowances to families of so-called “Martyrs.” Following Abbas’ meeting with Trump, Abbas’ deputy chairman of Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, reiterated that the PA under no circumstances would give in to American pressure to stop the salaries.
“Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul said… that the PA will reject any proposal that demands to stop taking care of the families of the Martyrs, prisoners, and injured through the transfer of monthly financial allowances. He added that this is a national cause, and that the American administration and the occupation encountered a refusal on this matter.
Al-Aloul noted that the injured, Martyrs, and prisoners are Palestinian fighters, and that we must under no circumstances accede to the pressures to stop their allowances.”
[Wattan independent Palestinian Authority news agency, May 4, 2017]
In response to the demand to stop the financial rewards to terrorists, PA Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak also emphasized that “it is not possible… to stain with terror the struggle of our people that is defending itself, its land, its holy sites, its freedom, and its just rights,” and stressed, “The Martyrs and prisoners are the symbols of our legitimate national struggle, the conscience of our Palestinian people.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 23, 2017]
PLO Executive Committee member and member of the political bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Tayseer Khaled has also stressed the PLO’s refusal to end the payments to terrorists.
“Those whose allowances the American administration is demanding to stop are freedom fighters, and the Palestinian side cannot relate to these provocative demands. The Palestinian National Fund, which… takes care of the families of the Martyrs, wounded, and prisoners, and will continue to do so regardless of the positions of the Israeli government and the American administration.”
[Donia Al-Watan, independent PA news agency, April 22, 2017]
The international community’s demands that the PA stop rewarding terrorist murderers with salaries follow Palestinian Media Watch‘s thorough documentation of this PA practice. PMW first reported on the salaries in 2011 and has since followed up numerous times with additional information, most recently with the report The PA’s Billion Dollar Fraud, documenting the PA’s ploy to fool Western donors into believing the PA is no longer paying the salaries.
PA and Fatah leaders continue to repackage the imprisoned terrorists as “freedom fighters” and “heroes.” Speaking “on behalf of the prime minister and the government,” PA Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak this month called the terrorist prisoners “brave” and “fighters for freedom,” saying, “I salute our brave prisoners… We emphasize to the world that our brave prisoners and righteous Martyrs (Shahids) are the victims of the Israeli occupation’s crimes and they are fighters for freedom, justice, and peace.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 5, 2017]
At a rally in Ramallah “in solidarity with the prisoners’ movement,” Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake said, “We are a people that only wants its freedom. Our prisoners are not terrorists, but rather fighter heroes and prisoners of honor and freedom.”
[Amad, independent PA news website, April 27, 2017]
Significantly, the PA’s Grand Mufti has ruled that “supporting the prisoners” is a “religious obligation.” “[PA] Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and Chairman of the Supreme Fatwa Council Sheikh Muhammad Hussein and the muftis of the districts called on the members of the Palestinian people to participate in activities supporting the Palestinian prisoners in their struggle and hunger strike… They said that this is a religious obligation in which everyone must take part.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2017]