Palestinian Authority Will Use Funds Raised in Sharm to fund terrorists‏

JCPA: Palestinian Authority Will Use Funds Raised in Sharm to fund terrorists

Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi Senior Policy Resercher
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Available for comment - ydh@netvision.net.il

The international committee which met on March 2 at Sharm el-Sheikh to raise funds for rebuilding the Gaza Strip managed to amass pledges of almost $5 billion. The lion’s share of the money is supposed to be channeled through the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). During the years of its regime, the Palestinian Authority has received billions of dollars of foreign aid. Where did it go and why did such enormous sums not lead to economic growth and an improvement in the lot of the Palestinian refugees, most of whom still live misery in cramped camps? In September 2006 we dealt with the Palestinians’ institutionalized
system of supporting terrorism. Nothing has changed since then.
Beginning March 2009, instructed by Palestinian chairman Abbas, the
Palestinian ministry for prisoner affairs was supposed to transfer an
additional 800 shekels to the monthly allotment given to security
prisoners serving jail terms in Israel. The funds will be transferred
exclusively to prisoners belonging to terrorist organizations which are
members of the PLO, with the exception of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic
Jihad prisoners. Ra’ed Omar, president of the Palestinian prisoners’
club, told the Ma’an News Agency website that there about 4,500
Palestinian prisoners belonged to that category.

The decision has caused much resentment in Hamas. The ministry of
prisoners’ affairs in the Hamas de facto administration regards the
decision as proof of the Palestinian Authority’s lack of serious intent
to mend the internal PA rift or to take sincere measures to secure
unity. According to a ministry announcement, “all the prisoners are
fighters for freedom and the homeland,” and they “were detained because
of the struggle against the Zionist occupation,” and therefore there is
no reason to differentiate between prisoners on the basis of their
organizational affiliation.

According to Palestinian law, every Palestinian prisoner, Arab or
Israeli Arab, imprisoned in an Israeli jail, is entitled to financial
assistance from the Palestinian Authority, on condition he (or she) was
sentenced for activity connected to the “struggle against the Israeli
occupation.” During his entire prison stay every prisoner is entitled to
a salary which ranges from 1,000 shekels for serving a term of one to
five years, to 4,000 shekels for serving a term of more than 25 years.
Furthermore, married prisoners receive an additional 3,000 shekels a
month, 50 shekels for every child, and 300 shekels for prisoners living
in the Jerusalem area. In addition, every prisoners receives an
allotment directly to his prison commissary account and 800 shekels a
year to buy clothes.

A bonus is given to every prisoner on release, and the sums vary from
$500 for a prisoner who spent less than a year in prison, to $10,000 for
those serving terms of 25 years or more. In addition, every prisoner is
entitled to a job in a government office after release if his term
lasted more than five years. As a way of honoring the activity of
released terrorists and showing appreciation, each one who served a term
of five to seven years in an Israeli prison is entitled to receive a job
and the rank of captain in the security forces, and if the term was more
than 25 years, he is entitled to the rank of deputy minister and of
brigadier general with seniority. The time he spent in jail is also
counted into his pension.

After release, he is entitled to receive a salary for six months until
he begins working at his official job in one of the Palestinian
Authority institutions. A prisoner who served a term of more than five
years receives an allotment of between 1,200 and 2,000 shekels every
month until he begins working. The ministry of prisoner affairs employs
95% of all the released prisoners.

According to statistics from the Palestinian prisoners’ club, as of
March 2008 there were about 11,600 prisoners in Israeli jails, some of
them Israeli Arabs and Arabs who were also entitled to assistance from
the Palestinian Authority. Of them 485 came from the Jerusalem area, 710
were serving life terms, 287 were serving sentences of more than 15
years and 3,205 were married. A rough estimate of the monthly allotment
paid by the Palestinian Authority to prisoners in accordance with the
prisoners’ law (without taking children into consideration) is about
13.7 million shekels a month, or more than 165 million shekels a year,
about $40 million at the current exchange rate. To that should be added
the bonuses and assistance for released prisoners, the families of
shaheeds, the wounded and Palestinians whose property was damaged during
the intifada. Many of the Palestinians in the last categories are
terrorist organization operatives. Thus an enormous slice of the
Palestinian budget goes to support thousands of Palestinian terrorists
and their families.

The Palestinian Authority never apologized for the terrorist attacks
carried out against Israel. The financial aid officially given to
long-standing terrorist operatives and their families serves them as a
kind of social security and sends the message that their activities have
received the Palestinian Authority’s stamp of approval. Not making
international assistance to the Palestinian Authority conditional on its
abandoning support for terrorists (and rehabilitating the refugee camps)
enables the Palestinian Authority to continue disbursing huge amounts of
economic resources to strengthen support for terrorism instead of
developing the Palestinian economy.