Even as Israel is collaborating with West Bank officials to fight the coronavirus, a new Israeli military order taking effect Saturday forbids banks in the occupied territory from processing payments that the Palestinian Authority distributes to the families of thousands of Palestinians who have spent time in Israeli jails.
The Palestinians defend the funds as vital welfare that compensate for an unfair military-run justice system, provide income for families who have lost their primary breadwinners and enable released prisoners to reintegrate into society. But the Israelis denounce the practice as rewarding terrorism.
The decree apparently also bans financial institutions from dealing with stipends that the PLO gives to the families of slain assailants, who the Palestinians refer to as “martyrs.”
The order threatens imprisonment for bank workers who refuse to comply and prompted at least three banks to require recipients of the payments to close their accounts this past week, prompting intense outrage.
The Cairo Amman Bank, which is based in Jordan, was the focus of anger Friday because of the new directive. Shots were fired at a branch in the West Bank city of Jenin and a Molotov cocktail hurled at another in Jericho, another West Bank city. In Ramallah, signs were posted outside a branch demanding that the bank reverse its “disgraceful decision.”
The violence prompted a statement from the Palestinian prime minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, who said Friday that families should be allowed to reactivate their accounts while banking and other officials weighed how to respond to the Israeli decree.
“We will find solutions that preserve the rights of the prisoners and martyrs and protect the banks from the occupation’s tyranny and any legal measures,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank under the Oslo accords, sends stipends each month to as many as 12,000 families of current and former prisoners, some of whom have been convicted of killing Israelis. More than an estimated 750,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned by Israel during the 53 years of the occupation, according to the PLO’s negotiation affairs department. Many Palestinians revere the current and former inmates as national heroes.
But Israel has constantly attacked the payouts, which its officials argue act as an incentive and reward for violence against Israelis.
