Released prisoners whose salary was stopped demonstrate at the PA Ministry of Finance
Headline: “Released prisoners whose salary payments were stopped: The [PA] minister of finance again did not bother to meet [with us]"
"With empty hands – thus the released prisoners whose salary (rawatib) payments were stopped left the [PA] Ministry of Finance building in Ramallah, after [PA] Minister of Finance [and Minister of Planning Dr. Shukri Bishara] refused to meet with them for the second time in 24 hours, according to them. Released prisoner Ihsan Al-Safadi said: 'Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara was in the ministry building, but they told us he was busy and that there was no possibility of meeting him.' He noted that this was the second refusal.
He added: 'The ministry of finance accountant and the director of the salary branch came out to sit with us, and they informed us that our problem is political.'
The released prisoners whose salary payments were stopped are continuing a sit-in strike [that has continued] for 16 consecutive days in the center of Ramallah, in protest of the decision to stop their salary payments. They are demanding that the leadership give them their right, which is anchored in Palestinian law.
Observers and analysts have emphasized that stopping the salary payments is submission to the conditions of American President Donald Trump for renewing the Palestinian negotiations with the occupation (Other sources indicate the move is a political decision related to the Hamas-Fatah rift; the claim that it is a response to Trump's request is apparently an excuse –Ed.).
According to released prisoners, the [PA] government stopped paying the salaries of 277 prisoners and released prisoners from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – one of the most prominent among them being Nael Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), who has sat in the prisons for 36 years of his life."
Nael and Fakhri Barghouti – Palestinian terrorists who murdered an Israeli army officer in January 1978, near Ramallah. Both were sentenced to life but were released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. Nael Barghouti was arrested again in 2014 for violating the terms of his release by offering Hamas to serve as its minister of prisoners' affairs, and is serving a life sentence plus an additional 18 years.
"With empty hands – thus the released prisoners whose salary (rawatib) payments were stopped left the [PA] Ministry of Finance building in Ramallah, after [PA] Minister of Finance [and Minister of Planning Dr. Shukri Bishara] refused to meet with them for the second time in 24 hours, according to them. Released prisoner Ihsan Al-Safadi said: 'Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara was in the ministry building, but they told us he was busy and that there was no possibility of meeting him.' He noted that this was the second refusal.
He added: 'The ministry of finance accountant and the director of the salary branch came out to sit with us, and they informed us that our problem is political.'
The released prisoners whose salary payments were stopped are continuing a sit-in strike [that has continued] for 16 consecutive days in the center of Ramallah, in protest of the decision to stop their salary payments. They are demanding that the leadership give them their right, which is anchored in Palestinian law.
Observers and analysts have emphasized that stopping the salary payments is submission to the conditions of American President Donald Trump for renewing the Palestinian negotiations with the occupation (Other sources indicate the move is a political decision related to the Hamas-Fatah rift; the claim that it is a response to Trump's request is apparently an excuse –Ed.).
According to released prisoners, the [PA] government stopped paying the salaries of 277 prisoners and released prisoners from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – one of the most prominent among them being Nael Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), who has sat in the prisons for 36 years of his life."
Nael and Fakhri Barghouti – Palestinian terrorists who murdered an Israeli army officer in January 1978, near Ramallah. Both were sentenced to life but were released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. Nael Barghouti was arrested again in 2014 for violating the terms of his release by offering Hamas to serve as its minister of prisoners' affairs, and is serving a life sentence plus an additional 18 years.