PA will pay Palestinian terrorists and martyr's families 75% of their terror salaries because of PA financial struggles, with the aim to repay the other 25% at a later date
Headline: “The [PA] government establishes a committee to examine improving the quality of health services”
The article is about the PA government’s weekly meeting -Ed.
“The [PA] government listened to a report on the PA’s severe financial situationin light of the deficit that was caused as a result of the rise in the scope of Israeli deductions from the tax money, which stood at 214 million [Israeli] shekels this month (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below, and the PA’s payments for services provided by Israel to the PA and Palestinians -Ed.). As a result of this, paying full salaries is becoming a most difficult thing. It was imposed on the [PA] Ministry of Finance to make the appropriate decision and determine what percentage can be paid at the time to all the groups – the employees, the pensioners, the families of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the PLO personnel in the homeland and the diaspora. The Ministry of Finance determined that 75% of the salaries will be paid, with every amount that is reduced from the employees’ salaries being considered as a debt to them that will be repaid when money will be available…
In a speech he gave at the start of the meeting, [PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh warned against the severe consequences of the organized state terror that the settlers and occupation soldiers are carrying out in the occupied Palestinian territories…
He added: ‘The settlers are carrying out terror under the protection of the Israeli army, which punishes the victims. This cannot continue, and the occupation state must bear responsibility for the terror and acts of cold-blooded murder. The latest examples of this were the death as a Martyr of young Muhammad Shawkat Abu Salima (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1 person) from Salfit, and the death as a Martyr of child Muhammad Nidal Younes (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1 person) from Nablus this morning [Dec. 6, 2021].’”
Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Muhammad Shawkat Salima – 25-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and wounded 1 Israeli civilian near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on Dec. 4, 2021, and then attempted to stab 2 Israeli border police officers who shot and killed him in self-defense. Security camera footage shows Salima repeatedly lunged at the officers even after being shot, causing them to continue firing out of fear he was trying to detonate a suicide bomb or use another weapon.
Muhammad Nidal Younes – 15-year-old Palestinian terrorist who wounded 1 Israeli security guard in a car ramming attack at Te’enim Checkpoint near Tulkarem on Dec. 6, 2021. Other security guards at the site shot and killed Younes in response.