US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in Jerusalem on August 22, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Thursday lambasted the Palestinian Authority’s declared intention to make monthly payments to the family of the Palestinian terrorist who stabbed Israeli Ari Fuld to death on Sunday.
Friedman called the payments “unconscionable” and said the PA’s practice of making such payments to terrorists and their families was an obstacle to peace.
“The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Commission has confirmed that the family of the terrorist who murdered Ari Fuld is ‘eligible to receive a monthly salary’ as compensation for his incarceration,” Friedman tweeted. “This practice is unconscionable and must stop if there is to be any hope for peace.”
Friedman tweeted his condemnation a day after The Times of Israel reported that the family of Khalil Jabarin, the 17-year-old terrorist who killed Fuld, would be eligible for a monthly salary from the PA once the correct paperwork had been completed.
MDavid M. Friedman
✔@USAmbIsrael
The Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Commission has confirmed that the family of the terrorist who murdered Ari Fuld is “eligible to receive a monthly salary” as compensation for his incarceration. This practice is unconscionable and must stop if there is to be any hope for peace.
The Palestinian Authority Prisoner Affairs’ Commission denied an Israeli TV report that the PA had already sent a multi-thousand shekel advance to the Jabarin family, but it made clear that such regular monthly payments would ultimately be made.
17-year-old Khalil Jabarin, who fatally stabbed Israeli Ari Fuld in a West Bank terror attack on September 16, 2016 (Screenshot/Twitter)
On Monday, Israel’s Channel 20 reported that the PA had transferred an advance of NIS 12,000 (some $3,300) to the family of Jabarin hours after he carried out the stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank, killing 45-year-old Fuld, a father of four and a resident of the Efrat settlement.
Jabarin, whom Fuld shot at before succumbing to his wounds, is in Israeli custody as of Wednesday. Jabarin was lightly injured. By firing at Jabarin, Fuld and a second Israeli civilian prevented the terrorist from attacking his next intended target, falafel shop worker Hila Peretz, who hailed Fuld saving her life.
Ari Fuld (Facebook)
“This report is a total fabrication and incitement against the Palestinian National Authority and our prisoners,” Prisoner Affairs’ Commission spokesman Hassan Abd Rabbo said in a phone call. Abd Rabbo said that “families of Palestinian prisoners must complete several measures, which usually take three to four months, before they receive any funds.”
The Prisoner Affairs’ Commission spokesman, however, added that Jabarin’s family would be eligible for funds, once it completes the necessary documentation and assuming Jabarin is not released by Israel.
Hila Peretz, a falafel shop worker, on September 17, 2018 says Ari Fuld saved her life in a terror attack at the Gush Etzion junction a day earlier. (screen capture: Channel 10)
“We are not bashful or secretive about our support for our prisoners,” he said. “The [Jabarin] family would be eligible to receive a monthly salary of NIS 1,400 ($390), if their son is not freed by Israel and it completes all the necessary documents.”
“Families must provide the Prisoners’ Commission with court documents about their imprisoned family member, papers from the Red Cross proving their family member was imprisoned on security grounds for resisting the occupation, a copy of their family member’s identification card and other forms before they receive funds,” Abd Rabbo said. “It is more or less impossible to finish this process in less than three months.”
The military’s Prison 4 in the central Israeli town of Tzrifin. (Screen capture/Israeli Broadcast Authority)
Abd Rabbo also said that if Jabarin’s family were to be granted a salary and their son remains in prison for several years, the sum they receive would increase. Former PA Prisoners’ Affairs Minister Ashraf al-Ajrami confirmed the substance of Abd Rabbo’s comments.
Families of Palestinians who meet the PA’s definition of a prisoner are entitled to a monthly payment, according to the PA Prisoners and Liberated Prisoners law. The law defines a prisoner as “anyone in the occupation’s prisons for participating in the struggle against the occupation.” Many Palestinians who the PA defines as prisoners have carried out terrorist attacks against Israelis and others and are serving life sentences.
Source:.timesofisrael.com