Fatah vows to continue paying terrorists' salaries – "under no circumstances can the salaries be harmed"
Headline: “The Fatah Central Committee emphasizes the importance of deepening the national dialogue between all the PLO factions to strengthen its unity”
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas led a Fatah Movement Central Committee meeting yesterday, Tuesday [Aug. 24, 2021], at the [PA] presidential headquarters in Ramallah…
The central committee again expressed its condemnation and rejection of the Israeli government’s deduction of the Martyrs and prisoners’ salaries from the Palestinian tax money, which is something that the Palestinian people will not accept (refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.). It emphasized that under no circumstances can the salaries of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners be harmed, and that this Israeli decision contradicts all the signed agreements, which determine that the Palestinian tax money is the Palestinian people’s right and not charity from anyone.
The central committee reviewed the [PA] government’s great financial distress, which stems to a large extent from the financial blockade to which the PA is being subjected. It called on the Arab brothers and the friends [of the PA] to hurry to grant aid in order to get out of this crisis.”
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.