PLO appears to end "pay for slay". Terror groups upset. ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, February 10, 2025

PLO appears to end "pay for slay". Terror groups upset.

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reports that the PLO will stop what is popularly known as "pay for slay," where terrorists and their families get paid by the PLO. Prisoners get salaries, they get do-nothing jobs when they are released, and those killed trying to murder Jews have their families paid.

The announcement says:

President Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, issued a decree law revoking the articles contained in the laws and regulations related to the system of paying financial allowances to the families of prisoners, martyrs, and the wounded, in the Prisoners' Law and the regulations issued by the Council of Ministers and the Palestine Liberation Organizations.

Under the decree law, the computerized cash assistance program, its database, and its financial, local, and international allocations will be transferred from the Ministry of Social Development to the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment.

Under these amendments:
1) All families that benefited from previous laws, legislation, and regulations are subject to the same standards applied without discrimination to all families benefiting from protection and social welfare programs, in accordance with the standards of comprehensiveness and justice, the conditions of which apply to all families in need of assistance in Palestinian society.

2) Under this amendment, the powers of all protection and social welfare programs in Palestine have been transferred to the Palestinian Economic Empowerment Foundation, which will assume the responsibilities of providing protection and social care programs to all Palestinian families in need of assistance and beneficiaries without discrimination.

The Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Foundation has an independent legal personality managed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the President. It operates in accordance with its law, tasks and transparent working mechanisms and is subject to administrative and financial oversight standards, including oversight by international institutions, to ensure transparency of procedures and fair distribution.

Accordingly, the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Foundation will seek to mobilize all possible funds, grants and allocations for the various categories of our people, especially in light of the significant increase in the number of families in need of social welfare, support and empowerment after the war on Gaza and the West Bank, in a way that contributes to improving the living conditions of our people, similar to the various social welfare systems adopted by different countries of the world that have strong and institutionalized social care systems.

The PLO always called pay for slay a social welfare program. Now they are saying that they will support all needy families.

Will families of terrorists who are well-to-do no longer receive stipends? I find that hard to believe.

It is hard to know whether this is a major deception, as the PLO has done in the past - by transferring the payments from the PA to the PLO, for example - or whether it is legitimate. The Jerusalem Post says "This comes amid news that, on February, US courts will impose heavy fines - of about $200-300 million - on the Palestinian Authority – following lawsuits filed by families of terror victims. The PA is reportedly worried that this will lead to a financial crisis."

Right now Israel is withholding funds meant for the PA equivalent to the amount they pay terrorists and their families. It will be interesting to see if Israel loosens this up - and if so, whether it will pay the amount it already withheld that has already been paid to terrorists.

One piece of evidence that this is legit comes from the criticism from the terror groups. Islamic Jihad says, "The decision to stop the prisoners’ allowances, especially at a time when the resistance forces are recording a victory over the enemy by imposing an honorable prisoner exchange, is an attempt to weaken the morale of our people and a betrayal of the prisoners who are giving years of their lives steadfastly behind bars, and a punishment of the Palestinian people for their adherence to their legitimate right to resist and to cling to their land and rights."

The PA reportedly asked the US to cancel the Taylor Force Act as a result of this change, which blocks aid from the US to the Palestinian Authority as long as pay for slay exists.

In the past, Abbas indicated that he would never, ever abandon pay for slay. He said in 2018, “Even if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families,” and he reiterated that position a number of times since.

Would this have happened under the Biden administration? It seems unlikely although the US court decision holding the PA financially responsible for the 2001 Sbarro bombing happened after the election, so who knows.