I don’t post everything that Itamar and team at Palestine Media Watch produce (though there is a strong argument to). But this is out of the park brilliant work. Here’s the summary report. It’s more explosive than a class full of suicide bombers receiving on the job training. And the PA is flat out lying to all the governments who are funding it. Read it all.
- Claiming to have complied with demands of international donors, the PA announced in August 2014 that it had stopped funding salaries to terrorist prisoners, and that the PLO would fund those salaries instead
- This PMW report documents that the PA’s claim to have stopped funding terrorist prisoners’ salaries is false. The PA Ministry of Finance continues to make the decisions and allocate the money for salaries.
- The PA’s pledge that it fulfilled donor countries’ demands is false. Therefore, the PA today is fraudulently receiving the $1 billion/year it receives in foreign donor money
by Itamar Marcus and PMW staff
Overview:
2011: PMW exposes that the PA pays high salaries to terrorist prisoners jailed in Israel, among them murderers serving many life sentences.
2012-2014: Western donor countries condemn these payments and threaten to cut off funding unless the PA meets their demand and stop paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists.
August 2014: PA claims to acquiesce to international pressure, announces that it has closed the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, and that salaries to prisoners will no longer be paid by the PA but by a newly formed PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.
The new PLO Commission is identical to the old PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs in everything but name. The Commission and the salary payments to prisoners remain under the “supervision” of the “Palestinian presidency,” i.e., Mahmoud Abbas. The PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs became the director of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.
2014-2016: Western donors accept PA assurances that the PA has stopped paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and the PA continues to receive foreign aid.
April 2016: This PMW report shows that the PA has misled donor countries and in fact continues to fund salaries to terrorists. The PA today is fraudulently receiving aid from Western donor countries of approximately $1 billion/year.
– The PA Ministry of Finance is identified by official PA sources as the body responsible for paying salaries to terrorist prisoners.
– The PA Ministry of Finance continues to be responsible for policies regarding salaries to terrorists.
– PA officials openly talk about the PA’s continued payment of salaries to prisoners based on current PA law that mandates that the PA pay them salaries.
– When the PA was short on cash, it announced that it cut salaries to terrorist prisoners (and civil servants) by 60%.
– In 2014, the last year the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs operated, its budget was 442 million shekels. The year after the “closure” of the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, the PA raised the amount it transfers to the PLO by 481 million shekels: from 294 million (2014), to 775 million (2015). The additional 481 million shekels ($128 million) the PA gave to the PLO in 2015 is the amount the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs needed to take on the responsibilities of the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, which is primarily paying terrorists salaries. The previous year’s amount, 442 million shekels, plus approximately 10% yearly rise matches the additional 481 million shekels the PA gave the PLO in 2015.
– The source of the money for salaries to terrorist prisoners thus continues to be the PA.
Conclusion
– Western donors are being intentionally misled by the PA, which continues to fund the salaries to imprisoned terrorists.
– By creating the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs in order to hide that it continues to fund salaries to terrorists, the PA has succeeded to fraudulently receive $1 billion/year in foreign aid from the donor countries.
