By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS (Worthy News) – The Palestinian Authority (PA) pays millions of dollars monthly to imprisoned fighters or their families, raising concerns that donations from the United States and the European Union are used to fund terrorism, according to data and documents obtained by Worthy News.
European legislators Monika Hohlmeier and Niclas Herbst asked the EU’s executive European Commission already in January whether money transferred to the PA, which exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves, goes to “terrorists.”
“Following this announcement, how is the Commission ensuring that the money transferred to the PA from the EU budget is not going to the families of ‘martyrs’ or ‘prisoners,’ especially those in Gaza?” they wondered in written questions reviewed by Worthy News.
“Will the Commission demand further security guarantees from the PA in order to be one hundred percent sure that the money is not going to the families of terrorists and ‘martyrs’?” they added.
“If such payments have been made, will the Commission stop making direct payments to the PA and transfer the money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, for example,” the legislators stressed.
While not addressing the controversy, the reelected European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said last week that the EU has “massively increased our humanitarian aid to almost 200 million euro ($217 million) in 2024. And we will do more. We are now working on a much larger multi-year package to support an effective Palestinian Authority.”
She added, “The two-state solution is the best way to ensure security of both, to Israelis and Palestinians. People in the Middle East deserve peace, security and prosperity. And Europe will be at their side,” according to a transcript of her remarks by Worthy News.
FEARING FUNDING TERRORISM
However, Monika Hohlmeier and Niclas Herbst said they feared much money would fund terrorism. “The PA announced that from December 2023, it would distribute salaries to the families of the ‘martyrs, prisoners and wounded,’ including and especially to families in Gaza. It would be irresponsible for the PA, which is heavily dependent on EU support, to transfer and reallocate designated funds from the EU budget to the families of ‘martyrs,’” they wrote.
Yet with more money on the way, the Palestinian government will pay $16.4 million a month to jailed “terrorists and their families,” a well-informed watchdog revealed.
Among them are nearly 900 Gaza-based fighters captured by Israeli forces following Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel that killed some 1,200 people.
Payments by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to imprisoned fighters have risen by $2 million a month, despite the West Bank-based government teetering on the brink of financial collapse, according to watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch.
The PA has recognized thousands of those terrorists as eligible for “pay-to-slay” payments in the wake of October 7, including 899 who were captured in Gaza in recent months.
All told, “9,750 terrorist prisoners are now recognized by the PA as eligible for monthly terror rewards, up from 4,300 prior to October 7,” said the Palestinian Media Watch, which tracks the PA’s payment system.
The watchdog “calculates that once the processing of the new prisoners is complete, the PA will be paying a minimum of 59,560,000 shekels (about $16.4 million) a month in salaries to prisoners linked to terrorism. That is up from 52,000,000 shekels (about $14.3 million) a month before October 7, Worthy News learned.
AID DOLLARS
The payment scheme, backed by international aid dollars, including from the United States and the EU, is among the primary reasons that Republican officials want to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinians.
U.S. aid amounted to upwards of $1.5 billion since America began increasing humanitarian assistance to the war-torn Gaza Strip, data showed.
Even before the October 7 attacks, the Biden administration pushed through plans to send millions of dollars to the PA as part of its drive to reignite the peace process with Israel, officials said.
In the nine months since war broke out with Hamas, the PA added “new terrorists” to its pay-to-slay program, according to investigators. Another 899 terrorists captured in Gaza were recently “recognized by the Palestinian Authority as prisoners, … and 9,750 terrorists are now recognized by the PA as prisoners from PA-controlled areas,” the Palestinian Media Watch wrote in an assessment.
Those figures are likely to continue increasing as Israel captures Hamas fighters and “other would-be terrorists“ operating in the West Bank, several sources said.
Analysts say the revelations are likely to complicate U.S.-backed ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas that are aimed at freeing those still being held hostage by the Iran-backed group.
As part of the ceasefire proposal, Israel would have to allow the PA at the helm of any Gaza reconstruction effort despite it funding prisoners linked to terrorism and their families.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.