Western Funding Used to ‘Pay’ Palestinian Terrorists

In 2012, the United States donated $495.7 million to the Palestinian Authority and this month, the US Congress has been debating whether to send the Palestinian Authority over $200 million for the 2013 fiscal year. Two of the Palestinian Authority’s other largest contributors are Great Britain, who donated $93 million, and Norway, who donated $53 million. Other major contributors to the Palestinian Authority include the European Union ($211 million); France (30.6 million); and the World Bank ($40 million). These funds are intended to aid the Palestinian economy, provide humanitarian assistance, and encourage the peace process.

However, according to a report released by Palestinian Media Watch, 2.5 percent of the Palestinian Authority’s monthly budget, which reportedly the west funds, is eaten up to provide salaries for people sitting in Israeli prisons. Additionally, Palestinian Media Watch has asserted, “Palestinian terrorist prisoners who served more than five years in prison remain on PA’s payroll even after being released. 4,000 released prisoners who were imprisoned for terrorism or other security offenses, now receive permanent full monthly salaries, even though many are in the prime of their lives and could get a job and work.” PA Minister of Prisoner Affairs Isaa Karake has noted that the PA continues to fund these people “to support and protect them out of esteem for their sacrifice and their struggle.”

Palestinian Media Watch cites the Palestinian newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida as claiming that the average Palestinian security prisoner receives 3,129 NIS per month (or $850), which is a sum significantly higher than the salary of a Palestinian civil servant (2,882 NIS per month/$783) and Palestinian military personnel (2,704 NIS/$734). Additionally, Palestinian Media Watch asserted that Palestinians who spend more time in Israeli prisons receive more money. For example, if a Palestinian security prisoner sits in an Israeli prison for under three years, this prisoner receives only 1,400 NIS per month, while if one is imprisoned by Israel for a security-related crime for 30 years or more, such a Palestinian prisoner receives 12,000 NIS per month, which is about twice the average salary of Israelis who have degrees in the humanities. Yet as if this were not bad enough, wives of Palestinian terrorists receive 300 NIS and children of Palestinian terrorists receive 50 NIS.

Many of these Palestinian terrorists who are being funded by the Palestinian Authority have blood on their hands. For instance, Ziad Kilani detonated a bomb in a shared taxi at the Mei Ami Junction, murdering 29-year-old Claude Knapp and injuring nine other people. The dog of Claude Knapp did reportedly survive this terror attack, unlike his owner, and is traumatized to date, refusing to bark like other dogs usually do. Ziad Kilani was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal and thus, like all Palestinians freed as part of this deal, according to Al Arabiya, receives Palestinian Authority funding. Danielle Knapp, the single mother of Claude Knapp, has asserted, “Nothing will bring back any of the victims of terror. We have to fight terrorism and stand for a peaceful tomorrow.” Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority has categorically refused to stand for a peaceful tomorrow by honoring Palestinian terrorists “out of esteem for their sacrifice and their struggle.”

Another Palestinian terrorist who is reportedly funded by the Palestinian Authority is Aziz Salha, who was responsible for the 2000 Ramallah lynchings’ of two IDF reservists, Vadim Nurhiz and Yossi Avrahami, who had accidently made a wrong turn into Palestinian-controlled areas. Aziz Salha and other Palestinians had beat and stabbed these two Israelis to death, gouged out their eyes, dissected their body parts which were thrown to the Palestinian mobs, and displayed their bloodied hands for the entire world to witness. Aziz Salha was also released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.

People like Ziad Kilani and Aziz Salha are merely examples of the types of people funded by the Palestinian Authority. Other Palestinians, such as Ahlam Tamimi, who assisted in the terrorist attack on the Sbarro Pizzeria that resulted in 15 Israeli deaths; Fadih Juabeh, who murdered 17 Israelis; Amna Muna, who seduced a 16-year-old Israeli boy to his death; etc. are equally examples of Palestinian Authority money being utilized to fund freed Palestinian terrorists. These examples don’t even include Palestinians with blood on their hands who continue to sit in Israeli prisons while receiving salaries from the Palestinian Authority.

Yet, despite these reports, both the British and Norwegian governments continue to defend the money that they send to the Palestinian Authority. British Minister of State in the Department for International Development Alan Duncan asserted, “It is true that in some cases, payments will go to families of those who have committed the sort of crime that we utterly condemn. We believe however that it would be wrong to punish innocent children and dependent family members by denying them access to social support.” Similarly, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide claimed, “We have examined this again and according to the information we have from the Palestinian Authority, this is not salary payments. … They are social benefits for Palestinian prisoners… and their families, whose purpose is to compensate for the loss of income.”

However, according to Palestinian Media Watch, 62 percent of Palestinian security prisoners are not married. Furthermore, while the Palestinian Authority did change the language utilized from salary to social assistance in their documents, Palestinian Media Watch claims that the Palestinian Authority changed the wording back to salary once they saw that Norway and Great Britain were not going to stop funding them. As the PA government itself clarified, Palestinian law “considers payments made to prisoners ‘salaries,’ to which no other term applies. … The cosmetic change to ‘social assistance’ was only a rumor and the prisoners receive salaries out of the PA’s esteem for them.”

Please write the British and Norwegian governments to complain!

Contact: Alan Duncan
Contact Info: alan.duncan.mp@parliament.uk

Dear Minister Alan Duncan,

As a concerned citizen, I am deeply disturbed that you proclaimed regarding British funding to the Palestinian Authority, “It is true that in some cases, payments will go to families of those who have committed the sort of crime that we utterly condemn. We believe however that it would be wrong to punish innocent children and dependent family members by denying them access to social support.” According to Palestinian Media Watch, 62 percent of Palestinian security prisoners aren’t married and thus don’t have any dependent children. Thus, as the PA government itself clarified, Palestinian law “considers payments made to prisoners ‘salaries,’ to which no other term applies. … The cosmetic change to ‘social assistance’ was only a rumor and the prisoners receive salaries out of the PA’s esteem for them,” implying that humanitarian need is not the reason for the PA sending them money.

Furthermore, Palestinian Media Watch cites the Palestinian newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida as claiming that the average Palestinian prisoners receive 3,129 NIS per month (or $850), which is a sum significantly higher than the salary of a Palestinian civil servant (2,882 NIS per month/$783) and Palestinian military personnel (2,704 NIS/$734). Additionally, Palestinian Media Watch asserts that Palestinians who spend more time in Israeli prisons receive more money. For example, if a Palestinian security prisoner sits in an Israeli prison for under three years, this prisoner receives only 1,400 NIS per month, while if one is imprisoned by Israel for a security-related crime for 30 years or more, such a Palestinian prisoner receives 12,000 NIS per month, which is about twice the average salary of Israelis who have degrees in the humanities.

Meanwhile, as 2.5 percent of the PA monthly budget is spent on Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli prisons and additional money is given to freed Palestinian terrorists who sit at home despite the fact that many of them are able bodied men very capable of joining the work force, the United Nations has noted that food insecurity remains high throughout the Palestinian Authority and the poverty rate in East Jerusalem alone stands at 78 percent. Despite the fact that the Palestinian Authority is the “largest per capita recipient of international development assistance in the world,” according to the US Institute for Peace and the Congressional Research Service, the Palestinian people are not seeing the benefits of such international assistance, while Palestinian terrorists are receiving very high salaries, in some cases, even by Israeli standards. Given these facts, Great Britain should refrain from funding the Palestinian Authority until they cease to fund Palestinian terrorists, many of whom have innocent blood on their hands.

All the best,

Your Name

Contact: Espen Barth Eide
Contact Info: utenriksminister@mfa.no

Dear Minister Espen Barth Eide,

As a concerned citizen, I am deeply disturbed that you proclaimed regarding Norwegian funding to the Palestinian Authority, “We have examined this again and according to the information we have from the Palestinian Authority, this is not salary payments. … They are social benefits for Palestinian prisoners… and their families, whose purpose is to compensate for the loss of income.” According to Palestinian Media Watch, 62 percent of Palestinian security prisoners aren’t married and thus don’t have any dependent children. Thus, as the PA government itself clarified, Palestinian law “considers payments made to prisoners ‘salaries,’ to which no other term applies. … The cosmetic change to ‘social assistance’ was only a rumor and the prisoners receive salaries out of the PA’s esteem for them,” implying that humanitarian need is not the reason for the PA sending them money.

Furthermore, Palestinian Media Watch cites the Palestinian newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida as claiming that the average Palestinian security prisoners receive 3,129 NIS per month (or $850), which is a sum significantly higher than the salary of a Palestinian civil servant (2,882 NIS per month/$783) and Palestinian military personnel (2,704 NIS/$734). Additionally, Palestinian Media Watch asserts that Palestinians who spend more time in Israeli prisons receive more money. For example, if a Palestinian security prisoner sits in an Israeli prison for under three years, this prisoner receives only 1,400 NIS per month, while if one is imprisoned by Israel for a security-related crime for 30 years or more, such a Palestinian security prisoner receives 12,000 NIS per month, which is about twice the average salary of Israelis who have degrees in the humanities.

Meanwhile, as 2.5 percent of the PA monthly budget is spent on Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli prisons and additional money is given to freed Palestinian terrorists who sit at home despite the fact that many of them are able bodied men very capable of joining the work force, the United Nations has noted that food insecurity remains high throughout the Palestinian Authority and the poverty rate in East Jerusalem alone stands at 78 percent. Despite the fact that the Palestinian Authority is the “largest per capita recipient of international development assistance in the world,” according to the US Institute for Peace and the Congressional Research Service, the Palestinian people are not seeing the benefits of such international assistance, while Palestinian terrorists are receiving very high salaries, in some cases, even by Israeli standards. Given these facts, Norway should refrain from funding the Palestinian Authority until they cease to fund Palestinian terrorists, many of whom have innocent blood on their hands.

All the best,

Your Name