Palestinian Authority sparks fury by cutting prisoner payments
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Across refugee camps and urban centres, payments to families have been cut off.
PHOTO: AFP
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has for years taken care of the families of any West Bank or Gaza Palestinian killed, hurt or imprisoned by Israelis – whether a murderer or an innocent shepherd.
The monthly stipends embodied the belief that such individuals were part of the national struggle.
Under international pressure to stop the practice – including from the US and European Union – that social contract is being rewritten.
Across refugee camps and urban centres, payments to families have been cut off, and protests have erupted in several West Bank cities in recent days.
The PA has been promising to make the change for years and announced the end of the programme in February
The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, a West Bank representative group, confirmed the payments had been suspended.
Ms Yasmeen Abu Latifeh, a 27‑year‑old widow, said her 2,000 shekel (S$800) monthly stipend vanished in November, leaving her unable to pay rent or buy food.
“There is no work here. Why did they take this step? We are the ones in need,” she said, now living with her in‑laws in an overcrowded home in Qalandia refugee camp near Ramallah.
From Israel’s perspective, the longstanding policy has been an incentive for terrorism, particularly because financial rewards can be greater for harsher acts – a life sentence for murder meant lifelong support for the family.
The practice has been a key reason many governments have told the PA – which runs parts of the West Bank – that it must initiate reforms.
That demand formed part of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan
The ceasefire proposal envisions a Gaza run by an apolitical, technocratic committee “until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform programme”.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has since followed through with plans to revise the stipend system, shifting it to one based on financial need.
The result, so far, is fierce criticism from all sides. Some Palestinian families accuse the leadership of prioritising Israel’s demands over their own welfare, saying the sudden loss of income has pushed them into financial hardship.
That has deepened the frustration towards the PA and reinforced a sense of betrayal among communities that regard prisoners as national symbols.
Mr Abbas said last week that shifting to a welfare model does not mean abandoning prisoners or bereaved families.
Loyalty to “martyrs, prisoners, the wounded and their families” remains a national obligation, he said in a statement.
That is what angers Israel. The stipends may no longer be official homage to anti-Israel activists, but still include them.
“This is pay-for-slay, a policy that nurtures terror,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted on social media platform X.
The changes are nonetheless significant. Every family seeking support must now fill out detailed forms regarding assets and income.
Until now, wealth did not matter if your relative was considered a martyr or in an Israeli jail. Meanwhile, if you were poor but no one in your family took part in anti-Israel activity, you got little.
Now all payments are being rerouted through welfare bodies, and beneficiaries are being reclassified as social aid recipients.
Polling by researcher Khalil Shikaki shows that Palestinians view the reform as part of a broader crisis of the PA’s legitimacy.
Two-thirds of the public oppose the change, raising the prospect of further protests if it is not reversed.
But without ending the payments, the PA will continue to struggle to gain favour with the US and Israel in the long effort to achieve Palestinian statehood.
Israel has withheld four billion shekels in tax revenues aimed at this programme that it collected for the PA since 2019, citing the stipends as justification, part of a policy that has repeatedly pushed the PA into financial crisis. BLOOMBERG
