By Eli Lake July 1st
2016
For the full article
go to: http://tinyurl.com/zeqs8j2
Whoever said crime doesn't pay hasn't talked to the family of a
Palestinian terrorist. For the Palestine Liberation Organization and the
related Palestinian Authority, the killers of Jewish Israelis are considered
"martyrs." And as such, their families are paid for the service these
murderers have done for the Palestinian cause.
This has come to light this week after a Palestinian, Mohammed
Tarayra, stabbed
Hallel Yaffa Ariel, a 13-year-old Israeli girl, as she was sleeping in her bed.
The stabbing was part of a wave of attacks by Palestinians who have for nearly
eight months been shooting, stabbing and running down Jews with the
encouragement of social media and popular songs.
According to the latest report of the Russian, European, U.S. and
U.N. group known as the Quartet, there have been 250 of these kinds of attacks
since October. It says, "These terrorist attacks, which have been carried
out mostly by young, unaffiliated individuals, contribute to the sense among
Israelis of living under constant threat."
But this misses important context. The Quartet's report, which is
even handed to a fault, makes no mention of the "martyr's fund,"
through which the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation
Organization pay the families of all Palestinian prisoners and the
families of martyrs. So while there is no evidence that the Palestinian
government plans these killing sprees, it encourages them as a legitimate act
of resistance.
As Commentary's Evelyn Gordon wrote
this week, the prisoners and the families of the prisoners themselves are
actually paid a higher wage than what most Palestinians earn for nonviolent
work.
The origins of these payments goes back a long way. Before the
Palestinian Authority was established in the 1990s through the Oslo peace
process, the Palestine Liberation Organization paid the families of
"martyrs" and prisoners detained by Israel. That practice became
standardized during the Second Intifadah of 2000 to 2005. The Israelis even
found documents in the late Yasser Arafat's compound that showed payments to
families of suicide bombers.
For years the Israelis and the Americans didn't do much on this
issue. The Israel Defense Forces work closely with Palestinian security
services to keep the peace in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Bush and Obama
administrations have pressed both sides to restart negotiations over a final
status.
This is starting to change. On Friday, Israel's prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that he would begin withholding part of the tax
revenue that Israel sends to the Palestinian Authority -- equal to the amount
paid to "martyrs."
Frank Lowenstein, the U.S. special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations, told me the U.S. has recently started withholding funding for the
same reason. "We have robustly complied with legislation passed in 2014
that requires us to deduct from development assistance to the Palestinian
Authority for Palestinian payments to individuals imprisoned for acts of
terrorism," he said. The amount of development assistance that has been
withheld is classified.
The Palestinian Authority seems to be aware of this and has figured
out ways to hide these payments to the families of murderers, by creating new
accounts. Senator Dan Coates, a Republican from Indiana, has introduced
new legislation aimed at closing this loophole.
One problem is that the payments to terrorists' families are
exceedingly popular these days. Ziad Asali, the president and founder of the
American Task Force on Palestine, told me that in recent years the media and
politicians have elevated these payments to something "sacred in
Palestinian politics." Asali said the Palestinian Authority president,
Mahmoud Abbas, and others are too weak to stop it. "This is where we find
ourselves now. The vast majority understand there has to be an end to violence;
it's not serving the Palestinians in any way," Asali said. "But I
think nobody really has the stature and clout to confront these issues
publicly."
Asali is getting at one of the many tragedies today for the
Palestinians. Abbas came to power
initially after he condemned suicide bombing and terrorism during the Second
Intifadah. His bravery at the time to confront Arafat earned him a reputation
as a peacemaker and is one reason President Barack Obama has never publicly
criticized him with the same ferocity he reserves for Netanyahu.
But today Abbas is in the 11th year of a four-year term
as president. He has made some vague statements opposing the recent wave of violence.
But he never condemns the murderers by name. Meanwhile, his own Fatah Party glorified
Tarayra on its
official Facebook page.
No wonder the killer's family is so proud of him. His mother told a
local news outlet: "My son is a hero. He made me proud. My son died as a
martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque," according to a
translation from Palestinian Media Watch.
Israel's alleged peace partner appears to agree. If the past is
precedent, she will receive a steady check to honor her son's murder of a
13-year-old Jewish girl in her sleep.
Video of the
week, PA's
salaries to terrorists debated in Norway - http://tinyurl.com/hbjjhbl
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