Palestinian banks in Judea and Samaria ‎freeze the accounts of Palestinian terrorists ‎and martyrs following Israeli decision to render ‎banks liable to punishment for facilitating PA ‎terror salaries

Headline: “The Bank of Palestine implements ‎the [Israeli] military governor’s decision and ‎freezes the prisoners’ accounts”‎

‎“The banks escalated their attack against ‎the prisoners and the relatives of the ‎Martyrs and the wounded, after they ‎decided to freeze their bank accounts and ‎gave them several days to withdraw their ‎balances before the accounts would be ‎closed.‎
A number of prisoners reported in recent ‎days to [the Palestinian news website] Quds ‎News Network that the banks prevented ‎their attempts to deposit any additional ‎money and informed them that they must ‎withdraw the existing balances, due to the ‎decision of the Israeli [military] governor in ‎the West Bank banning the handling of ‎these accounts coming into effect (refers to ‎the application of much of Israel's Anti-Terror ‎Law to the West Bank, including rendering ‎banks liable to punishment for facilitating PA ‎terror salaries -Ed.).‎

Quds News Network has learned that there is ‎a blacklist with many names of prisoners ‎and relatives of Martyrs and wounded who ‎are banned from even opening any kind of ‎bank account, especially at the Bank of ‎Palestine…‎

Abdallah Mahmoud, a wounded released ‎prisoner, noted that the Bank of Palestine ‎froze his bank account, prevented him from ‎depositing money into the account, and ‎refused to open an account for him ‎separate from the bank account that was ‎designated for him by the [PLO] ‎Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs for the ‎payment of his salary.‎

A number of Palestinian factions attacked the ‎unilateral measures taken by the banks ‎operating in Palestine, and especially the ‎Bank of Palestine. The Democratic Front for ‎the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said that ‎what is happening is submission to the Israeli ‎pressures and acceding to the decision of the ‎‎[Israeli] military governor in the West Bank.‎

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ‎‎(PFLP) Political Bureau member Kayed Al-‎Ghoul told Quds News Network on behalf of ‎the PFLP: ‘National decisions need to be ‎made that will ensure the rights of the relatives ‎of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the ‎wounded, without relating to the Israeli ‎pressures.’ Al-Ghoul added: ‘The PA needs to ‎fulfill a clear political role on this issue and ‎not abandon the prisoners as victims of the ‎Israeli decisions.’ …‎

On the same matter, sources in the banking ‎system justified what happened and said ‎that this is acceding to the decision of the ‎‎[Israeli] military governor in the occupied ‎West Bank, due to… the fear of being ‎exposed to possible procedures and ‎sanctions, including break-ins of the bank ‎branches and the arrest of senior [bank] ‎officials there. The sources, who asked to ‎remain anonymous, told Quds News Network ‎that the banks are in a situation of general ‎misgivings due to the recent increase in ‎popular pressure, even from the relatives of ‎the prisoners, the Martyrs, and the wounded.”‎

Israeli army legislation which applies parts of Israel's 2016 Anti-Terror Law to the West Bank (taking effect on May 9, 2020). The law prohibits numerous terror related offenses, including terror funding/rewarding and holds heads of terror organizations responsible for murder committed by members of the organization. The law criminalizes the provision of funds for or the payment of rewards for the commission of terrorist offenses, such as the salaries the PA pays to terrorist prisoners and released prisoners. The provision also applies to any person or body - such as a bank - that facilitates such funding or rewarding of terror offenses. Based on this last provision, PMW sent letters in April 2020 to the heads of banks in the PA areas warning them that they must freeze the accounts of terrorists and their proxies and transfer them to the Israeli army or face legal consequences.