Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have all been reducing or stopping payments and aid to the Palestinian Authority because of their “pay for slay” program of giving lifetime salaries to terrorists.
I had heard in the past that some Hamas terrorists in Gaza who were former prisoners had not been getting their “salaries” from the Palestinian Authority, but it appears that some former prisoners in the West Bank have stopped receiving their pay as well.
For more that two weeks (or perhaps as many as 43 days) former prisoners have been holding a sit-in in tents in Ramallah, some holding a hunger strike, in order to protest the cuts in their salaries. This past Tuesday PA police tore down the tents; when the prisoners complained officials said that the space was needed for setting up a Christmas tree and the tent was relocated.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh offered to meet with the prisoners to work on their demands, but the meeting failed.
It is possible that these are Hamas members and the PA doesn’t want to pay the. But it appears that this is one of those cases where no one has any desire to be upfront about the truth – Israel wants to maintain maximum pressure, and the PA wants its people to think that these payments to terrorists and their families are their highest priority – so any change in the PA’s policy can only be gleaned by reading between the lines.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Leave a Reply