Head of prisoners’ commission blesses prisoners; 450 prisoners’ salaries have been stopped for technical reasons
Headline: “Qadri Abu Bakr to Wattan: The prisoners are ‘a red line,’ and thanks to their unity they will be saved from the occupation”
“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr blessed the prisoners, the released [prisoners], their relatives, and all of the Palestinian people for Eid Al-Fitr (i.e., Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan)…
Regarding the prisoners’ salaries, he emphasized that the prisoners and released [prisoners] have been receiving salaries for more than 50 years. He added that in recent months the occupation has legislated a number of laws in the Israeli Parliament, among them the law to deduct the prisoners’ and Martyrs’ salaries (i.e., the Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law; see note below), but [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] has emphasized that the prisoners’ salaries are a red line…
He explained: ‘The number of prisoners whose salary payments have been stopped is 450, and the reason for this is not political, but rather that for three years we have been demanding that they update their data, but they have not done so.’”