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Taylor Force Act approved by US House Committee

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The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Taylor Force Act yesterday. The Act would cut US funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless it stops monthly payments to prisoners and their families after they are convicted of terrorism offences.

In the same session, US representatives passed two other bills designed to confront Palestinian terrorism. The Hamas Human Shields Prevention Act would sanction foreign governments, entities, and individuals for providing financial and material support to Hamas. The Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act would impose sanctions on foreign governments and entities that support Palestinian terrorism.

All three measures will proceed to the House of Representatives for a vote. Following the session, Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-California) said: “Since 2003, it has been Palestinian law to reward Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails with a monthly paycheck. The Palestinian leadership also pays the families of Palestinian prisoners and suicide bombers. These policies incentivise terrorism. With this legislation, we are forcing the PA to choose between US assistance and these morally reprehensible policies.”

The Taylor Force Act, named after a former US army officer killed by a Palestinian terrorist while visiting Tel Aviv in March 2016, includes exceptions to allow continued US funding to Palestinian water programmes, childhood vaccination programmes and hospitals located in East Jerusalem. The bill would not effect the roughly US $60m designated for security assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

The Trump administration strongly supports the Taylor Force Act and is closely following the progress of the legislation, a State Department official said in September.

The PA opposes the new legislation, claiming that its “martyr” compensation scheme benefits generations of families that include those of legitimate combatants in the Palestinian struggle for independence.

After the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Taylor Force Act in August, the PLO Executive Committee said it would “continue its national, moral, and humanitarian responsibility” towards Palestinians and their families convicted of terrorist offences or killed carrying out attacks while sending “a blessing of appreciation and pride” to the security prisoners currently serving time in Israeli prison.

According to a report by the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs in July, the PA’s 2017 budget for payments to Palestinians in Israeli prisons and their families is US $153.4m, a 13 per cent increase compared to 2016 and equal to half the foreign aid the PA expects to receive this year.