‘A delegation of the forces gave the grant to 28 families of Martyrs and 10 families of prisoners,’ PA’s daily paper says
The Palestinian Authority made another round of “pay for slay” payments to the families of terrorists on Tuesday, according to the PA’s official newspaper, marking at least the second time it has done so since its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a decree purportedly ending the practice.
The PA distributed the funds to “28 families of Martyrs and 10 families of prisoners” affiliated with its security forces in Jenin, the PA’s daily newspaper, Al-Hayat al-Jadida, wrote on Wednesday, according to a translation provided by watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch.
The paper quoted the director of the PA’s intelligence service in Jenin, Adnan Abu Aisheh, who said the payments were made “based on what President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas has emphasized again and again—[which] is that if we are left with one penny, it will be paid to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners.”
The payments throw more cold water on Abbas’s February decree announcing a reform of “pay for slay,” as the PA’s system of payments to security prisoners and the families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis is widely known. The decree suggested that terrorists and their families would no longer receive special treatment and instead be “subject to the same standards” as normal welfare recipients, who receive less generous compensation.
Less than a month later, in early March, the PA’s post office announced “the start of disbursement of financial allocations tomorrow morning … at main post offices and through ATMs,” payments that a PA official said consisted of “salaries to the families of the martyrs, wounded, and prisoners,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. The PA relies on post offices to deliver the terrorism payments thanks to an Israeli crackdown on Palestinian banks for processing the illicit funds. As a result, terrorists and their families must visit a post office or special ATM to get paid.
“Pay for slay” accounts for a large and ballooning share of the authority’s budget. Last March, as then-president Joe Biden pushed to include the PA in his Middle East peace plan, Abbas committed to paying nearly $100 million to Hamas terrorists in the year following October 7. Weeks later, the Biden administration gave its blessing to a newly formed PA government, which promptly boasted of providing grants to 36 families of security force members who were involved in attacks on Israelis—much like it did on Wednesday.
In addition to the payments, Palestinian officials, including Abbas, have reaffirmed their support for the terrorism payments.
“We repeat and emphasize that we are proud of the sacrifice of the martyrs,” Abbas said in late February at a meeting with members of his Fatah political party. “Even if we only have one cent left, it will go to the prisoners and martyrs. They must receive everything as in the past, for they are more precious than all of us put together.”
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