PLO head of prisoners’ commission responds to Dutch cutting off funding: We will continue paying prisoners’ and Martyrs’ families

Headline: “Abu Bakr: The PA will not change its policy on caring for the prisoners and their families”

“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr said today (Thursday) [Nov. 21, 2019] that the money that the PA is paying the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners is a right guaranteed by the Palestinian national movement, as part of the conventions and laws it has approved out of a commitment to the fighters and their families.

He said this in response to the Dutch Parliament's decision to stop the direct funding to the PA on the pretext that [the money] is paid to the families of the prisoners and Martyrs (see note below –Ed.). Abu Bakr noted that this is a result of the occupation state systematically deceiving the international community in order to falsely accuse our people's legitimate struggle and our right to resist the Israeli occupation of being terror and a crime.

Abu Bakr noted that the PA and the Palestinian national movement will not change their policy regarding taking care of the prisoners and their families. He added that they will continue to fulfill their obligations to them and will not succumb to the pressures of the occupation authorities and the international community, regardless of the challenges."

The Dutch Parliament announced on Nov. 20, 2019, that it is stopping direct funding to the Palestinian Authority due to the PA's "Pay-for-Slay" policy of paying salaries to convicted terrorists and the families of killed terrorists – documentation of which was presented to them when PMW Director Itamar Marcus addressed the Dutch Parliament in November 2018. The Dutch Parliament noted that it raised the issue numerous times with the PA but this “did not lead to the desired outcome.”