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https://palwatch.org/page/18659
According to the Director of the Palestinian Authority-funded PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, the PA leadership is working closely with the US administration, the EU, and Israeli authorities to ensure that the PA will be able to pay the monthly salaries it pays to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, via the banks in April. Abu Bakr added that dozens of employees in the commission are working – “even on vacation days” – to guarantee a solution is found to give the terrorists their rewards.
“The Palestinian leadership is holding contacts at the highest levels with the American administration, with the Europeans, and with the Israeli authorities in order to find a solution that will allow the renewal of paying the salaries of the prisoners in the occupation’s prison and the released prisoners… We hope that the payment of the salaries via the banks will be renewed in April [2021]… A team of 64 employees in the commission and in other institutions is working even on vacation days to arrange this matter, which is sacred from our perspective… The commission is insisting that the prisoners’ salaries be paid via the banks and not in any other way.”
[alquds.com, website of the paper Al-Quds, March 11, 2021]
The PA’s crisis in paying salaries all started on April 20, 2020, when Palestinian Media Watch wrote to the banks operating in the PA and warned them that new Israeli anti-terror legislation was about to come into effect and that if they continued allowing to the PA to pay salaries to the terrorist prisoners and released prisoners through their institutions they would potentially face both criminal and civil liability.
The new law that PMW referred to came into full force on Dec. 30, 2020.
Instead of abolishing its terror reward policy, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh reiterated the PA commitment to paying the salaries of the terrorist prisoners. When asked on Al-Araby TV whether the PA has “abandoned the prisoners, and what are the alternative solutions for them?” Shtayyeh pledged that the PA’ will continue to reward terrorists:
“You know and all the people watching your show know for certain that we are fully committed. We have not abandoned the prisoners, and we will not abandon the prisoners. The prisoners’ cause is a sacred cause. They have rights, and we must protect this… On the other hand, Israel and the US imposed sanctions on us due to our commitment to the prisoners. In any case we will protect the sanctity of this cause… But the most important thing is that there are financial rights for the prisoners. We will remain committed to them in every way.”
[Facebook page of PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, Jan. 22, 2021]
This statement reflected the efforts of the PA to try to invent ways to circumvent the new Israeli anti-terror funding law.
The PA has come up with a creative solution to solve part of the problem. In order to continue paying terror salaries to the 7,500 terrorists already released from prison, the PA has decided to create thousands of new civil service positions, thus camouflaging the payments to the terrorists as if they were payments to government employees. As part of this program, the PA has even recruited the released terrorists into the PA security apparatus. Significantly, the PA sees no inconsistency enlisting released terrorists, including members of internationally designated terror organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine into the PA security mechanisms charged with fighting terror.
The program to recruit and enlist the released terrorists into the PA apparatus was first announced in October 2020. Since then, there have been intermittent reports updating the implementation. Thus recently, Abu Bakr commented that based on the Presidential Decree issued by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the process of integrating the released terrorists is well underway:….
According to the Director of the Palestinian Authority-funded PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, the PA leadership is working closely with the US administration, the EU, and Israeli authorities to ensure that the PA will be able to pay the monthly salaries it pays to terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, via the banks in April. Abu Bakr added that dozens of employees in the commission are working – “even on vacation days” – to guarantee a solution is found to give the terrorists their rewards.
“The Palestinian leadership is holding contacts at the highest levels with the American administration, with the Europeans, and with the Israeli authorities in order to find a solution that will allow the renewal of paying the salaries of the prisoners in the occupation’s prison and the released prisoners… We hope that the payment of the salaries via the banks will be renewed in April [2021]… A team of 64 employees in the commission and in other institutions is working even on vacation days to arrange this matter, which is sacred from our perspective… The commission is insisting that the prisoners’ salaries be paid via the banks and not in any other way.”
[alquds.com, website of the paper Al-Quds, March 11, 2021]
The PA’s crisis in paying salaries all started on April 20, 2020, when Palestinian Media Watch wrote to the banks operating in the PA and warned them that new Israeli anti-terror legislation was about to come into effect and that if they continued allowing to the PA to pay salaries to the terrorist prisoners and released prisoners through their institutions they would potentially face both criminal and civil liability.
The new law that PMW referred to came into full force on Dec. 30, 2020.
Instead of abolishing its terror reward policy, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh reiterated the PA commitment to paying the salaries of the terrorist prisoners. When asked on Al-Araby TV whether the PA has “abandoned the prisoners, and what are the alternative solutions for them?” Shtayyeh pledged that the PA’ will continue to reward terrorists:
“You know and all the people watching your show know for certain that we are fully committed. We have not abandoned the prisoners, and we will not abandon the prisoners. The prisoners’ cause is a sacred cause. They have rights, and we must protect this… On the other hand, Israel and the US imposed sanctions on us due to our commitment to the prisoners. In any case we will protect the sanctity of this cause… But the most important thing is that there are financial rights for the prisoners. We will remain committed to them in every way.”
[Facebook page of PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, Jan. 22, 2021]
This statement reflected the efforts of the PA to try to invent ways to circumvent the new Israeli anti-terror funding law.
The PA has come up with a creative solution to solve part of the problem. In order to continue paying terror salaries to the 7,500 terrorists already released from prison, the PA has decided to create thousands of new civil service positions, thus camouflaging the payments to the terrorists as if they were payments to government employees. As part of this program, the PA has even recruited the released terrorists into the PA security apparatus. Significantly, the PA sees no inconsistency enlisting released terrorists, including members of internationally designated terror organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine into the PA security mechanisms charged with fighting terror.
The program to recruit and enlist the released terrorists into the PA apparatus was first announced in October 2020. Since then, there have been intermittent reports updating the implementation. Thus recently, Abu Bakr commented that based on the Presidential Decree issued by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the process of integrating the released terrorists is well underway:….
