Several Palestinian officials on Tuesday denounced President Mahmoud Abbas’ decree ending payments to the families of those killed by Israel or imprisoned in Israeli jails, including many detained for attacks on Israelis.
The decree, issued the day before and which is expected to affect tens of thousands of people, transfers the administration of these payments to an independent foundation.
Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority’s committee overseeing prisoner affairs, called for the decree’s immediate withdrawal, warning that it will impact “approximately 35,000 to 40,000” families both inside and outside the Palestinian territories.
“I urge you to reconsider this matter and withdraw this decree,” Fares said at a press conference in Ramallah.
He added that such a significant decision should have been discussed at all levels of the Palestinian political leadership, arguing that “allowances for prisoners have always been a point of consensus” among Palestinian factions.
In a separate statement, Fares said that a civil society organization, the Palestinian Economic Empowerment Foundation, will now manage these payments and conduct audits to “verify the financial hardship” of prisoners and their families.
According to the official WAFA news agency, all those who previously benefited from payments would be “subject to the same standards applied without discrimination to all families benefiting from protection and social welfare programs.”
Also present at the press conference was Hilmi al-Araj, head of the Center for the Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights, who called for the decree to be “rescinded as though it never existed,” condemning both “its timing and its content, as the prisoners are on the verge of freedom.”
Araj was referring to the ongoing prisoner releases coordinated with Israel in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The existing law, passed in 2004, classified all Palestinian prisoners as government employees and provided them or their families with salaries based on factors such as sentence length, according to the decree.
Tuesday’s press conference followed a meeting of Palestinian factions, according to a representative from one of the national groups who spoke to AFP.
Abbas’ decree came in response to a US request and repeated Israeli pressure on the Palestinian Authority to abolish what critics refer to as the “Pay for-Slay” program.
The Israeli government argues that the scheme incentivizes violence against Israelis and considers it “funding and support for terrorism.”
Israel has repeatedly used these financial allowances as a reason to freeze tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian movement and rival to Abbas government Hamas denounced the decision in a statement Monday evening, calling for its “immediate reversal.”
