P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas fired Qadura Fares, head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, for criticizing his apparent decision to cut stipends to terrorists in Israeli jails, Ynet reported on Tuesday.
On Feb. 11, Fares, head of the Ramallah-based committee, along with several other P.A. officials, denounced Abbas’s decree, calling for its immediate withdrawal, AFP reported.
He said it would impact “35,000 to 40,000” families inside and outside Gaza, Judea and Samaria. “I urge you to reconsider this matter and withdraw this decree,” Fares said at a press conference.
Although reports have interpreted a Feb. 10 statement by Abbas as bringing an end to the pay-for-slay program, or “Martyrs’ Fund,” in which terrorists are rewarded financial compensation for attacking Jews, the announcement, published on the P.A.’s English-language WAFA news site, said Ramallah was transferring its payment allocation system from a ministry to an “independent” foundation.
The P.A. has made similar moves in the past when facing Western scrutiny. In 2014, when the pay-for-slay program first made news, the P.A. felt its funding sources threatened. It declared that it was closing the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs and no longer paying terrorist salaries.
Prisoner payments are extremely popular among the Arab public in P.A.-controlled areas with 91% supporting them, according to a 2017 poll.