BICOM

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop yesterday announced that some funding to the Palestinian Authority will be cut because of concerns the money is being paid to convicted terrorists and their families.

The Australian Government had allocated US$7.4m to the World Bank’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Palestinian Recovery and Development programme that went to the PA.

Bishop said: “I wrote to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on 29 May, to seek clear assurance that Australian funding is not being used to assist Palestinians convicted of politically motivated violence. I am confident that previous Australian funding to the PA through the World Bank has been used as intended. However, I am concerned that in providing funds for this aspect of the PA’s operations there is an opportunity for it to use its own budget to activities that Australia would never support.”

She added that any assistance provided “to those convicted of politically motivated violence is an affront to Australian values, and undermines the prospect of meaningful peace between Israel and the Palestinians”.

The Australian government says it remains committed to supporting “vulnerable Palestinians with access to basic services, including healthcare, food, water, improved sanitation and shelter” and will now send US$7.4m “to the United Nations’ Humanitarian Fund for the Palestinian Territories which supports these services”. About 75 per cent of this money will be spent in Gaza.

The Israeli Knesset passed a law yesterday reducing the money it sends to the Palestinian Authority (PA) because of concerns that it was being given to individuals convicted of terrorist offences and their families.

Israel will deduct the payments the PA makes to prisoners and their families from the taxes it collects and passes on to the PA. Every year the Defence Minister will report on the transfer of funds from the PA to prisoners and their families to the Security Cabinet. The final version of the Bill omitted a government clause that would have allowed the Security Cabinet discretion on whether to freeze the funds or avoid doing so for diplomatic reasons.

According to Israel’s Defence Ministry, the PA paid US$190m  to the “martyrs’ families fund” and US$152m to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club in 2017 — some seven per cent of its overall budget. The PA claims that its “martyr” compensation scheme benefits generations of families that include those of “legitimate combatants in the Palestinian struggle for independence”.