“Moderate” Palestinian Authority Pays Convicted and Imprisoned Hamas Terrorists

Under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian Authority gives money to convicted murderers.

Documents obtained by Israel Radio on Oct. 6, 2015 show that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been paying imprisoned terrorists, including those belonging to rival Hamas—the U.S.-listed terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip.

According to The Jerusalem Post, “most of those receiving PA money are members of Hamas who were behind some of the bloodiest terror attacks in Israeli history, from the second intifada” (“Documents reveal Palestinian Authority paying convicted Hamas terrorists,” October 6). All terrorists receiving money from the PA—routinely referred to by some press and policymakers as “moderate”—are serving time in Israeli maximum-security prisons. Among those receiving compensation for their deeds are Hamas bomb maker Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamad, the top Hamas official in the West Bank.

Shortly after the January 2006 Palestinian legislative council elections in which Hamas defeated the Fatah movement, the U.S. Congress passed legislation prohibiting any taxpayer money from aiding a Palestinian government in which terrorists were given a role. In 2007, in a “five-day war” Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinian Authority split between Hamas rule in Gaza and Fatah control over West Bank Arabs. The years since have seen many futile attempts at PA unity governments between Fatah and Hamas.

The Post notes that “Barghouti and Hamad were involved in some of the worst suicide bombings of the second intifada, including the bombings at a cafeteria at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem… the Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem… and a nightclub bombing in Rishon Lezion.”

Documents show that Barghouti and Hamad receive $66,000 and $53,000 respectively, in U.S. dollars (USD). By contrast, according to figures from The World Bank, the gross national income per capita of West Bank and Gaza Palestinians is $3,060 USD.

Similar to the amounts some Hamas members receive, PA security service figures also receive “salaries” for committing terror attacks during the second intifada.

The second intifada was planned in advance by PA officials under the direction of then-PA President Yasser Arafat. Lasting from 2000 until 2005, the uprising took more than 1,000 Israeli and 4,000 Palestinian lives. 70 percent of Israelis killed were non-combatants; most Palestinians killed were armed participants. Arafat privately planned the attacks while publicly engaging in U.S.-led talks with Israel for a two-state solution as part of the 1993 Oslo accords process, which created the PA and brought it foreign aid money.

That intifada erupted following PA incitement over false claims of Jewish designs on the al-Aqsa mosque.

Arafat’s successor, current PA president and Fatah movement head Mahmoud Abbas, has used the specter of Hamas making gains with West Bank Palestinians to maintain international aid and support from Western countries, some of whom perceive Abbas and the PA to be more moderate than the theocratic Hamas.

As CAMERA has noted, Abbas formally annulled Oslo and negotiations with Israel in a Sept. 30, 2015 speech to the U.N. General Assembly (“Abbas in U.N. Wonderland; Media Miss Cheshire Cat,” October 2). In the weeks leading up to that speech, Abbas—like Arafat and other Palestinian Arab leaders before him—used the “al-Aqsa libel” to incite violence (“Incitement over Temple Mount Leads to Palestinian Violence, Again,” September 16).

Since Oslo, the PA, while claiming to seek peace, has received billions of dollars in aid—and been accused by many Palestinian Arabs, including former PA officials, of embezzling much of it (“Leaked documents raise anger over Palestinian corruption,” Ynet News, Aug. 12, 2015).

Now the world, presumably including the U.S. Congress, is reminded about how the PA spends donor aid.