France continues funding PA general budget which pays salaries to terrorists
France continues funding PA general budget,
which pays salaries to terrorists
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Following PMW reports, the US, the EU, Norway
and other donors
and other donors
stopped directly funding the PA general budget
because the PA pays salaries to terrorists,
yet France continues to fund the PA's general budget
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Itamar Marcus
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Following Palestinian Media Watch's exposure that the Palestinian Authority general budget funds the PA hate and terror promotion and rewards terrorist prisoners with high salaries, the US, the EU, Norway and other European donors all stopped giving money directly to the PA general budget so that their money would not go directly to pay salaries for Palestinian terrorists. (Note: Donors who give aid through an international multilateral organization like the UN or the World Bank, might indirectly still be giving to the PA general budget.***)k
This is not true for France. The PA announced last week that France signed agreements to give the PA money for various projects and in addition: "financial aid directly to the public treasury in the amount of 8 million euro."
The PA general budget that France is contributing to pays monthly salaries to terrorists like Hamas bomb maker Abdallah Barghouti, whose bombs murdered 67 people, and Abbas Al-Sayid, who planned two suicide bombings in which 35 were killed, as well as all other Palestinians imprisoned for terror crimes.
The French government should note that the PA pays more than $12 million a month in salaries to terrorist prisoners. [Official PA TV, June 11, 2014] Accordingly, France's 8 million euro ($8.9 million) will cover approximately three weeks of terrorists' salaries.
The PA salary payments to terrorists have been documented extensively by PMW since 2011, most recently in the report The PA's Billion Dollar Fraud, which documents that despite having promised international donors that it had ceased rewarding terrorists with salaries, the PA still continues this practice.
Recently, Mahmoud Abbas has indirectly confirmed PMW's charge. When the Norwegian Foreign Minister complained to Abbas about the PA paying terrorists' salaries, Abbas did not deny it but said it is not with Norwegian money: "In the meeting, I emphasized that this support program in which financial payments are increased the [longer] the prisoners serve time [in prison], is unacceptable... Abbas responded by repeating assurances that Norwegian funds are not going to finance the program." [Dagen (Norway), May 4, 2016]
This is not true for France, which funds the PA budget directly.
***The World Bank gives funding to the Palestinian Authority via multiple programs. One such program, the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan Trust Fund (PRDP-MDTF), provides "untied, un-earmarked donor funds to the PA’s Central Treasury Account." The latest donation via this trust fund was reported in May 2015 and amounted to $77 million. Norway donates to the PA every year via the World Bank, and has donated to the PRDP-MDTF fund in the past. [http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/02/11/us40-million-grant-to-the-palestinian-authority-to-support-institutional-reforms]
The following is the article in the PA daily about French funding of the PA's general budget:
"[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah briefed the government members during the weekly meeting held today [May 25, 2016] in Ramallah, regarding results of the meeting he held in his office yesterday with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls... The [PA] prime minister expressed his gratitude to the French government for the ongoing support that it gives to the Palestinian people, whether directly or through the European Union. Likewise, he praised the three agreements that were signed during the visit. They are the agreement to fund the administration of a wastewater project in Hebron in the amount of 13 million euro, the agreement to carry out research and for the French Agency to give technical aid for future development of Palestine in the amount of 500,000 euro, and the agreement to give financial aid directly to the public treasury in the amount of 8 million euro."
[Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), May 25, 2016]
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Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf: “The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs [Today the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, that receives the same budget from the PA, Ed.] established in the Palestinian National Authority has the third highest monthly budget in the PA, meaning it is the third largest PA government ministry. That is, over 40 million shekels [i.e., 12 million dollars] a month, which the Palestinian Authority pays the prisoners, the released prisoners and their families.”
Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf: “The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs [Today the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, that receives the same budget from the PA, Ed.] established in the Palestinian National Authority has the third highest monthly budget in the PA, meaning it is the third largest PA government ministry. That is, over 40 million shekels [i.e., 12 million dollars] a month, which the Palestinian Authority pays the prisoners, the released prisoners and their families.”
[Official PA TV, June 11, 2014]