Commentary
On Feb. 10, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas
announced a long-promised change to the PA’s “Pay for Slay” policy. Many triumphant headlines declared this as an official end to the reprehensible PA policy of paying stipends to the families of “martyrs” (that is, terrorists) who were either killed, injured, or imprisoned while explicitly carrying out violence against Israel.
This announcement is the latest of President Abbas’ efforts to get the U.S. to drop the
Taylor Force Act of 2018, named in honor of a Texan army veteran who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in 2016. The act prohibited U.S. aid to the PA so long as the Martyr’s Fund existed. It remains to be seen what other concessions the PA will try to use this newfound ‘change in policy’ to exact; it also remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will acquiesce to restoring aid.
The end of the Martyr’s Fund is, of course, a welcome moderating step by the PA—if it can be believed. But based on promises the PA continues to make to recipients of the program, Western powers should remain skeptical that any true reform has taken place.
Of course, the PA is severely limited in the concessions it can provide. The PA does not have any legitimacy from the Palestinian people to carry out even mild reforms. Abbas, now in the 20th year of his four-year term, faces a serious legitimacy crisis in the West Bank after facing no elections since 2005.
Polls have repeatedly shown that Hamas would win any elections in the West Bank thanks to the perceived corruption and collaboration of Abbas’ Fatah party.
Indeed, Fatah officials are already playing damage control following the announcement of the abolition of the Martyr’s Fund. Immediately following the announcement, Senior Fatah official Monir al-Jaghoub
said, “President Mahmoud Abbas did not halt the salaries of anyone. The full salaries of the prisoners, martyrs, and the injured will be paid through another body.”
Upon closer inspection, then, this supposed “end” to the Martyr’s Fund is much more oblique. From the official announcement published in the Palestine News & Info Agency, we learn that the “restructuring” announced by President Abbas is more evasion than action. The plan simply moves the responsibility for payments from the government-run Martyr’s Fund into the “independent” Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Foundation. The Foundation will distribute money previously paid under the Martyr’s Fund
according to ”the same standards applied without discrimination to all families benefiting from protection and social welfare programs… the conditions of which apply to all families in need of assistance in Palestinian society.”
In other words, the families of terrorists will still receive every penny that they received before if they are suffering financial hardship, even if this financial hardship is a direct result of members of their family committing acts of terrorist violence.
It appears, then, that this is not really an end to “Pay for Slay” at all. It is, rather, a shallow announcement by the PA to ingratiate itself to the United States, perhaps to encourage the restoration of U.S. financial aid or to present itself as a viable candidate for the post-war administration of Gaza.
For many years, the PA has insisted on rewarding violence against Israelis. This alleged reform should be considered the bare minimum for further engagement with the PA, not some noble compromise. Despite the headlines describing an end to “Pay for Slay,” many of the families of terrorists who were receiving financial assistance before this announcement will continue to receive payments after it. Consequently, any concessions sought by the PA as a reward for their own moderation and compromise should be viewed with skepticism.
The “official” end of the Martyr’s Fund is, at face value, a welcome end to a morally indefensible policy. Yet, Western policy efforts should now go towards ensuring the new system is not simply “Pay for Slay” by the back door, as well as pressuring the PA to moderate on other issues like sustained recognition of Israel and UNRWA education. The West must ensure that it never pays to commit acts of terrorist violence.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
