For years, the US government has pressured the Palestinian Authority overseeing parts of the West Bank to end a program that pays stipends to families of Palestinians involved in attacks on Israel. Dubbed “pay for slay” by Israelis, the program is now getting an overhaul as the Palestinian administration, seen as a candidate for governing Gaza in the future, looks to curry favor with the Trump administration, per the New York Times. On Monday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who once said he would never end the payments, issued a decree saying the authority would do just that—a move intended to be in exchange for US economic assistance.
Under a law signed by Trump in 2018, economic aid cannot be directed to the PA unless the so-called “martyr payments” are ended. Trump hasn’t said publicly whether he’s willing to support the PA. But even if US aid doesn’t arrive, the alteration should help limit “the economic distress of the cash-strapped” PA, which “has increasingly struggled to make ends meet and to pay its employees’ monthly salaries,” the Times reports. The families of Palestinians jailed or killed by Israel may still be eligible for social welfare payments, but these will be based on financial need “without regard to political affiliations or past actions,” according to the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution.
While some will call this a win for Trump, the Times of Israel cites a source as saying the change was due to be announced during the Biden administration, but Israel sought to delay it. A rep for the Israeli foreign ministry now alleges this is only “a new deception scheme” and that payments will continue to flow “through alternative payment channels.” Israel has used the payments to justify withholding more than $100 million annually, drawn from tax revenues collected on behalf of the PA, from the authority, per the New York Times. Palestinians and Hamas have also criticized the move, describing prisoners as freedom fighters or individuals unjustly held by Israel. (More Palestinian Authority stories.)
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