BICOM

According to the Sunday Telegraph, a growing number of MPs from both sides of the house are concerned that UK aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is enabling the PA to make payments to convicted terrorists as a reward for their actions.

The 2004 Palestinian Law of the Prisoner mandates that those convicted of terror offences, classed by the PA as “resisting the occupation” are immediately placed on the PA payroll. This amounted to around £60 million in 2013, including £9 million paid as bonuses on release. The scheme involves a sliding scale whereby more money is paid in proportion to the seriousness of the offence. This money is payed to prisoners regardless of their factional affiliation. The unity agreement recently signed between Fatah and Hamas puts all international funding to the PA in question because Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organisation by US and Europe.

The UK, through the Department for International Development (DfID), gives the PA around £86 million each year. A DfID spokesman said that, “British funding to the Palestinian Authority is used for the sole purpose of paying the salaries of civil servants.” However, Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth is quoted by both the Sunday Telegraph and Daily Mail saying, “Taxpayers will be appalled if one single penny is going not to relieve poverty but to line the pockets of those convicted of terrorism. Britain should absolutely be withdrawing aid to the Palestinian Authority until this stops.” Fellow Conservative MP Robert Halfon has also raised the issue with DfID in 2011. In January, MPs representing the International Development Committee reportedly asked the Israeli monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch to compile a report on the issue.

Amr Nasser, director of the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, did not deny that the payments are made and defended the PA policy, telling the Sunday Telegraph that, “These people are heroes, and freedom fighters, [who] are making this sacrifice for a better future for their children and people as a whole.”

Canada has already ended direct payments to the PA over the issue and instead funds international humanitarian projects in Palestinian territories. Norway has also expressed concern and a discussion has taken place in the Dutch parliament.