Fatah official: Martyrs and prisoners are “the builders of the contemporary Palestinian national character,” therefore we must suffer budget cuts
Text posted on the official Fatah Facebook page
Posted text:
"The daily message
In Palestinian slang: 'Our wall is high'
Those who know the structure of the Palestinian National Authority's budget understand that the Israeli piracy to which the Palestinian people's money is being subjected (i.e., refers to Israel's 'Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law to deduct terror salaries; see note below) constitutes an enormous provocation of the Palestinian leadership. Although the reduction of the salaries that are being paid in half eases the burden on the budget, it adds a new burden to the 'budget' of every family and citizen.
If so, what maintains the leadership's adherence to its rejection of this piracy? And why are the citizens who are loaded with debts showing understanding for their leadership's position?
It is the national honor that is drawn from the depths of loyalty to those who have proudly waved the flag of Palestine, realized its existence, and made its name synonymous with struggle and an example that free people the world over imitate. These are the Martyrs, wounded, and prisoners; the builders of the contemporary Palestinian national character, and the protectors of our people's dream of return, liberty, and national independence. And since they are indeed all of this and even more, the settlement occupation government is attempting make an 'exchange deal' with us of our national and ethical commitment to them and their families in exchange for the release of the tax money that it is using as a hostage to blackmail the Palestinian leadership so that it will renounce one of the most important fundamental principles of the national consensus.
The things our people is suffering – terror, daily killing, an American siege, and Israeli piracy – will never break up the Palestinian people’s unity around its leadership… and will never lead to the weakening of the leadership and it being dragged into bartering over the national consensus, but rather the absolute opposite: Israel will find itself dealing with additional oppositional Palestinian means, with the decision to stop acting according to the signed agreements with the occupation state being the first of them… and this is in order to say to Israel and the US in determined Palestinian slang: 'Our wall is not low, but rather high and towering, touching the heavens and striking root in the depths of the earth, like the walls of Jerusalem.'
July 29, 2019 – 'the daily message'
A [Fatah] Movement daily letter from Secretary of the Fatah Poland Branch Dr. Khalil Nazzal"
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.