Download the Full Paper - PDF version
Executive Summary
The Palestinian Authority (PA), which has crafted an image for itself as a bureaucratic, moderate, pragmatic and civilian-led Palestinian government, certainly when compared to its rival Palestinian organization, Hamas, plays an active role in the armed struggle against Israel in multiple ways, including the administration of a well-oiled and well-budgeted economic apparatus designed to incentivize organized as well as random acts of terror perpetrated by Palestinians against innocent Israelis. This is the “Pay for Slay” apparatus.
According to Palestinian law, which designates the terrorists as “the Palestinian people’s combat wing”, imprisoned terrorists are rewarded on a sliding scale, based on the number of years they are serving in prison. Upon their 30th year in prison, their salaries reach $3,750 USD per month, equivalent to the salary of the President of the Palestinian Supreme Court, and eight times the average minimum salary in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria (“the West Bank”). It is also 4 times the per capita average monthly salary earned by Palestinians.
Incarcerated terrorists who were released after having served more than 5 years in prison continue receiving a salary, even after their release, as well as a one-time release payout ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
PA law mandates employing released terrorists in government agencies in order to provide them with permanent financial security, including fully subsidized healthcare and education. It also confers to them priority employment placements across government ministries.
Furthermore, the PA provides compensation, in the form of monthly allowances, through the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to the families of the “martyrs” (terrorists who were killed or wounded during terror operations).
On average, the PA spends over $300 million USD every year on this, an amount equivalent to about 7% of its annual budget during most of the surveyed years, and almost half of the foreign financial aid it receives from donor countries and other contributors.
Approximately 5,000 prisoners, 7,200 released prisoners, as well as 37,500 families of the “martyrs” and wounded terrorists, benefit from the cash allowances and employment opportunities provided through this policy.
To appreciate the gross incongruity in priorities, in 2018, the budget of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is budgeted for 5 million inhabitants, stood at $530 million USD ($112 USD per capita per year), while the terror apparatus budget, which serves 12,200 incarcerated and released prisoners, and 37,500 family members of “martyrs” and wounded terrorists, that constitute a fraction of the population, stands at $370 million USD ($8,820 USD per capita per year).
Among the terrorists receiving these benefits are Omar Abu Jalal, who murdered three members of the Solomon family and is expected to receive about $2.04 million USD throughout his lifetime; Abdel Hakim Asi, who murdered Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal, and is expected to receive a similar amount; and Amjad and Hakim Awad who murdered the five members of the Fogel family, including a 3-month-old baby, and sentenced to 5 life sentences and another 7 years in prison, and each is expected to receive a combined $4.26 million USD over the course of their lives.
Terrorism is considered a legitimate and primary tool in fulfilling the PLO’s and PA's ultimate goal of establishing a Palestinian state while eliminating the State of Israel. In this context, the PA views the cash incentives and employment preferences as constituting an important element in institutionalizing its terror apparatus.
This is the Palestinian Authority's explicitly, defined policy as expressed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who called the “martyrs” “stars in the sky of the Palestinian nation's struggle,” who are the “top Palestinian priority,” and who stressed, on several occasions including to the UN General Assembly, that “even if we were left with just one penny, we would pay it to the families of the martyrs and prisoners.”
Analysis
The PA is incentivizing people to choose terrorism as a course of action that not only grants its perpetrators with glory and admiration, but rewards them financially, much more lavishly than the average citizen. This constitutes not only solicitation for murder, as the money is guaranteed up front, and a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords, but also the systemic and standardized incorporation of the Palestinian armed struggle into the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority.
By doing so, the PA meets the Israeli and international definitions of a terror organization. Not only does it finance terror and incentivize people to carry out terror through its support for still incarcerated and released prisoners, as well as the families of “martyrs” and wounded terrorists – it also employs many of them as public servants, including, absurdly, in its security apparatus entrusted with combating terrorism.
Legal aspect
Relevant legislation passed both in the United States and Israel to address this issue. In Israel, the funds that the PA transfers to terrorists are withheld by law from the taxes collected on its behalf by Israel. In the United States, American law bans the transfer of financial aid to the PA as long as this policy continues.
The response on the part of the vast majority of the international community to this phenomenon has been muted, thereby accepting the PA's victimhood narrative, despite unmistakable PA policy defying the global struggle against terrorism. Transferring aid money from donor countries to terrorists stands in violation of the laws of the donor countries themselves, as well as international treaties on terror financing. Indirectly, this foreign aid provides a substantial lifeline to the PA's terror apparatus, which targets innocent Israelis, in the guise of humanitarian aid.
Recommendations
Designate the Palestinian Authority as a terror-sponsoring entity, including the freezing of international aid and cooperation and the closing of PA global diplomatic missions. This stems from the recognition that the PA should not receive any dispensation from laws and treaties concerning the sponsorship and incentivization of. Lifting this sanction will be conditioned on the complete and permanent cessation of this policy on the part of the PA, including the revoking of relevant laws regarding the stipends to prisoners and killed terrorists’ families, and the employment of released prisoners.
The Israeli “offsetting law” should be fully enforced, without delay, at the beginning of each calendar year; as should the Taylor Force Act in the United States, such that the PA would be compelled to choose between complete economic collapse and the maintenance of their terror infrastructure.
In this context, it is critical to emphasize that a scenario in which the PA collapses should not be considered an intolerable threat to Israel’s security. There are a number of alternatives to the PA that could effectively manage the day-to-day affairs of Palestinians residing in Areas A and B, similar, with some modifications, to what existed prior to the Oslo Accords.
Other donor countries should be encouraged to adopt this type of legislation.
Israel must make it clear to the Palestinian Authority that it may be exposed to significant legal liability if this policy is not terminated. The United States and other donor countries should be encouraged to adopt this policy line, in some cases by simply implementing their existing terror financing laws with respect to the PA.
The international community should be warned by the United States (in accordance with the “Taylor Force Act”) and Israel and other involved parties against the granting of aid to the PA, directly or indirectly as it advances the financial terror infrastructure targeting Israel.
Israel, the United States, the Quartet and donor countries should make it clear to the PA that abandoning terror is something that the PLO and the PA committed to in the Oslo Accords, and that any progress in any final status arrangements would be conditioned on the complete and permanent cessation of this policy.
The “moral ambiguity” intrinsic to turning a blind eye to these activities conducted by the PA should be eradicated. A fact-based discourse should be encouraged, one that places a focus on the true nature of the PA as an organization that carries out terror against Israelis, regardless of political position on negotiations with the PA or with any other Palestinian entity.