Consensus among PA leaders to reward terror
Consensus among PA leaders to reward terror
By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Will a more moderate Palestinian lead the Palestinian Authority after 82-year-old Mahmoud Abbas leaves office? When observing the continued outspoken glorification of terrorists by other PA leaders, including their support for financially rewarding terrorist murderers, it is clear that the potential successors to Abbas likewise will support terror. For example, following the Israeli parliament committee vote this week to deduct the hundreds of millions of dollars a year the PA rewards terrorist prisoners and families from tax money Israel transfers to the PA, senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi condemned Israel for "defining the resistance as a crime."
The word "resistance" is a common PA term for activities that include use of violence and terror, and PA leaders claim consistently that Palestinians have the right under international law to murder Israeli civilians because it is legitimate "resistance." According to Ashrawi, Palestinian terrorist prisoners deserve their monthly financial rewards because their murdering Israeli men, women and children is not a "crime":
"PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi condemned the Israeli approval [of legislation deducting the value of money]. She said: 'The organized and deliberate theft of the Palestinian people's money reflects the occupation state's method, which is based on defining the resistance as a crime."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 2018]
Mahmoud Abbas' deputy chairman of Fatah, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, the man who may replace Abbas, likewise glorifies terrorist murderers as "heroes" and "freedom fighters." At an event honoring Palestinian terror leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for planning murders, Al-Aloul emphasized the PA's commitment to continue to pay salaries to terrorists and said about Barghouti and all the prisoners:
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"We are speaking about [imprisoned] heroes and fighters, about freedom fighters. We will continue to support them and struggle for their freedom, and we will refuse to bargain over this. We oppose the American Congress' decisions (i.e., to stop funding the PA until it stops rewarding terror) on this matter. Even if we are left with only a few pennies, we will allocate them only to the families of the Martyrs and to the prisoners."
[Official PA TV, April 16, 2018]
Abbas vowed earlier this year that the PA won't stop the terror salaries, and this policy was reiterated by several PA leaders following the American enactment of the Taylor Force Act, which cuts almost all aid to the Palestinian Authority if it continues paying salaries to terrorists and allowances to families of dead terrorists.Last year, Abbas likewise pledged he would never stop paying the salaries, even if it were to cost him his presidency:
"'Even if I will have to leave my position, I will not compromise on the salary (rawatib) of a Martyr (Shahid) or a prisoner, as I am the president of the entire Palestinian people, including the prisoners, the Martyrs, the injured, the expelled, and the uprooted.'
[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas."
[Official Fatah Facebook page, July 2, 2017]
Also responding to this week's Israeli parliamentary vote, the PA's national unity government glorified the terrorists and justified their receiving financial rewards:"The [PA] national unity government emphasized that there is no power in the world that is capable of obligating us to abandon our prisoners and our people's heroic Martyrs. Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud said: 'Our Palestinian people and its leadership are loyal like no other to our prisoners and our people's Martyrs, who have sacrificed the years of their lives and their souls so that the members of our people would live and for their homeland's freedom and independence'...
Al-Mahmoud... said that the occupation authorities are the ones that need to restore the full rights, compensate for their occupation, and be held accountable for their crimes, but in their great arrogance they want to kill the victim and force him to pay 'the price of his death,' when by doing so they are reaching the heights of sadism and insanity in history."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 2018]
Given the general consensus among Palestinian Authority leaders that murdering Israelis is justified and heroic, and that terrorist murderers should be presented as role models for Palestinian youth, the likelihood of a new truly moderate PA leader who would work for peace after Abbas leaves office is very slim.Bill to deduct terror salaries from PA tax money - A bill to deduct the amount of money the PA pays imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA, which passed the Israeli Parliament Committee on Security and Foreign Affairs unanimously on June 11, 2018, clearing the way for a second and third reading in Israeli Parliament. The bill would enable the deducted money to be used to pay the amounts awarded to terror victims in lawsuits against the PA or individual terrorists, and for projects aimed at eliminating terror.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements glorifying terrorists by Palestinian leaders:
Fatah deputy chairman: Prisoners are "heroes and fighters." We will pay them "even if we're only left with a few pennies"
Fatah Deputy Chairman and Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul: "We are speaking about [imprisoned] heroes and fighters, about freedom fighters. We will continue to support them and struggle for their freedom, and we will refuse to bargain over this. We oppose the American Congress' decisions on this matter. Even if we are left with only a few pennies, we will allocate them only to the families of the Martyrs and to the prisoners."
[Official PA TV, April 16, 2018]
In the audience:
Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki Fatah Central Committee member and PLO Central Council member Jamal Muhaisen
Israeli Arab Parliament Member Ahmad Tibi
"The American Congress' decisions" possibly refers to the Taylor Force Act - a bill named after US citizen Taylor Force who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv on March 8, 2016, which calls to cut almost all funding to the PA if it continues paying salaries to terrorists and allowances to families of "Martyrs." On March 23, 2018, the bill was approved by the American Congress and signed into law by US President Donald Trump.
Headline: "A committee of the occupation 'approved' a 'bill' to deduct the salaries of the Martyrs and prisoners and 'compensation for the damages of the fires' from the [PA] tax money - the occupation steals and plunders Palestinian money
* Ashrawi: Political blackmail to which our people will not surrender
* The [PA] government: There is no power in the world that can obligate us to abandon our prisoners and our people's Martyrs"
"The occupation parliament (Israeli Parliament) [parentheses in source] Committee on Security and Foreign Affairs yesterday [June 11, 2018] approved a bill to deduct the money that the PA pays to the Martyrs' (Shahids') families and to the prisoners (from the taxes Israel collects for the PA, see note below -Ed.). The same committee unanimously approved a proposal submitted by occupation [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to confiscate money from the Palestinian tax revenues for the benefit of settlers in the area called 'the Gaza Envelope' (as compensation for the thousands of acres of Israeli agricultural fields and nature reserves which have been destroyed by flaming kite-bombs sent from Gaza -Ed.)... PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi condemned the Israeli approval. She said: 'The organized and deliberate theft of the Palestinian people's money reflects the occupation state's method, which is based on defining the resistance as a crime and imposing collective punishments on the Palestinian people. These steps contradict international humanitarian law, and constitute additional proof that Israel is going too far in punishing all those who refuse its occupation and resist its steps.' She noted that this money is not Israeli, and added: 'If we had authority to control our crossings, we would not be in need of the occupation state to act as an agent in collecting taxes in return for a high percentage'...
The [PA] national unity government emphasized that there is no power in the world that is capable of obligating us to abandon our prisoners and our people's heroic Martyrs. Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud said: 'Our Palestinian people and its leadership are loyal like no other to our prisoners and our people's Martyrs, who have sacrificed the years of their lives and their souls so that the members of our people would live and for their homeland's freedom and independence'...
Al-Mahmoud... said that the occupation authorities are the ones that need to restore the full rights, compensate for their occupation, and be held accountable for their crimes, but in their great arrogance they want to kill the victim and force him to pay 'the price of his death,' when by doing so they are reaching the heights of sadism and insanity in history...
Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) Secretary-General and PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani said that confiscating the revenues from taxes - if the transfer of the salaries to prisoners and to the Martyrs' family members will continue - constitutes a new plundering of Palestinian money and political blackmail to which we will not surrender. He again emphasized the adherence to the PA continuing to pay the salaries to the families of the prisoners and the Martyrs, and noted that this is a national, moral, and political commitment to fighters who have sacrificed their blood for the homeland, and to fighters who finished their youth and the years of their lives in the occupation's prisons. He added that the one who is committing terror is the occupation government."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 2018]