Fatah, defiant, reportedly vows to continue paying terrorists

“The rights of martyrs and their families are an inseparable part of the national culture and moral, humane way of life,” said Fatah.

By World Israel News Staff 

The Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas, is vowing to continue paying Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli jails and the families of terrorists in cases in which the “martyrs” are killed when attacking Israeli targets, reports Arutz 7.

Last month, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett signed an order of seizure to collect hundreds of thousands of shekels received by eight Israeli-Arab terrorists and their families from the PA as monthly stipends for their pay-for-slay policy.

The minister’s office said the “direct” action against terrorists was an unprecedented move, expanding the existing policy beyond only punishing the PA.

However, a defiant Fatah statement issued to mark Martyrs’ Day declared that “the rights of martyrs and their families are an inseparable part of the national culture and moral, humane way of life,” Arutz 7 reports.

“The [martyrs] sacrificed their lives in order to give us a better life, therefore we will remain faithful to their families, to their children and their children’s families, at any price,” said the Palestinian proclamation, according to the Israeli news website.

In July 2018, the Knesset passed a law requiring the Israeli government to deduct tax revenues it otherwise transfers to the PA by the same amount of money as the stipends which the self-rule authority pays to Palestinian terrorists.

In March 2018, the U.S. Senate passed the Taylor Force Act into law, blocking American funding to the PA as long as it continues to pay salaries to convicted and deceased terrorists and their families.

In November 2019, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported that since 2011, the Palestinian Authority had given the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) over 7 billion shekels ($1.99 billion).

“Some of that money went directly to PLO member organizations, such as the PFLP, that the U.S., the EU, and Israel have designated as terrorist organizations,” said PMW.