Salaries for terrorists, PA adamant

Headline: "Al-Sheikh: The occupation's aggressive policy will lead to an explosion"

"Head of the [PA] General Authority of Civil Affairs Hussein Al-Sheikh emphasized the [PA] leadership's rejection of the Israeli monetary theft on the pretext of payments to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners (i.e., referring to the most recent implementation of Israel's Anti 'Pay-for-Slay' Law; see note below).

Al-Sheikh said yesterday [Jan. 1, 2020] in a press release: 'I met yesterday (two days ago) [parentheses in source] with Israeli Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and notified him of our decision to adhere to continuing to pay the rights of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners, regardless of the cost.' He also emphasized that the occupation's aggressive policy will lead to an explosion."

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.