NEWS DESK | Israel claims that Palestinian Authority payments to Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails are incentives for others to commit acts of terror. The Palestinian Authority, however, will not cease them, believing that payming 'resistance fighters' is reasonable and non-negotiable. Our Mohammad Al-Kassim has the story.
Story:
Israeli newspaper Yisrael Hayom claims that the Palestinian Authority spent over $135 million in payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in 2018.
Israeli research institute Palestinian Media Watch says nearly $50 million of it were paid in salaries to released prisoners and Israelis say the money helps fuel more attacks against them.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under tremendous US and European pressure to stop the payments. Last year Israel passed a law dubbed ‘Pay for Slay’, which allows it to withhold tax funds to the Palestinian Authority, as long as the Palestinians continue to pay prisoners and their families.
But Palestinian officials have repeatedly said the issue of payments is a ‘red line’ and it would be political suicide to stop them.
‘We will pay salaries to the families of the martyrs, the families of the wounded and the families of the prisoners,’ PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat says. ‘This is our duty and we will do it.’
The issue is a sensitive one for Palestinians, who see the prisoners as resistance and freedom fighters. Palestinian civilians in the West Bank share the same sentiments about the payments.
‘Our prisoners are living, at the moment, inside the Israeli jails in a very awkward situation and are subjected to a lot of frustrations and tensions because of what the Israelis are doing right now,’ a Palestinian Ramallah resident says.
Despite Israeli and international pressure, Palestinians vow to continue the payments as the prisoners is one of the few issues unifying them.
For more, see our ⬇
Website
Articles:
Live: (Subscription)
Replay: (Subscription)
Social Media
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:
0 Comments