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PA Official: Palestinians Approve Paying Terrorists More Than Civil Servants
The opening of a hall that the Palestinian Authority named for a terrorist who killed 125 people. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is going through a major financial crisis and cannot afford to pay its employees their full salaries.
Nonetheless, according to a PA official, Palestinian civil servants are happy that the PA prioritizes paying terrorists in prison 100% of their terror reward salaries, while the civil servants themselves receive only 50% of their monthly salary (though today, they claim the salaries are equal).
Muhammad Hamida, Economy Ministry Director in Bethlehem: “While we as [public] employees received a salary at a rate of 50%, before the [Gaza] war, the families of the prisoners and Martyrs [i.e., terrorists] received a full salary. The Palestinian leadership remains committed to this. It deducted amounts from regular employees and gave a full salary to the families of the prisoners and Martyrs.
Today, everyone is equal. The salaries that the families of the Martyrs and prisoners receive are also received by the employees. We are proud of the prisoners and their families as well as of the Martyrs and their families. .. This is a national question, a very important one, and it is a priority. No one in Palestine complains about why the families of the prisoners and the Martyrs get full salary and we get half.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, July 16, 2024]
This shows how well the Palestinian Authority has succeeded in brainwashing its population to believe that terrorists deserve more money than Palestinian government employees, even though they do not work and have no expenses.
PA TV has broadcast PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ well-known proclamation dozens of times that even if the PA has one penny left, it will continue to pay prisoners and Martyrs before anyone else.
Another PA official recently stressed yet again that terrorists should be paid before all other Palestinians:
Jericho and Jordan Valley District Governor Hussein Hamayel: “When great pressures were exerted on [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership to stop the salaries (rawatib) of the Martyrs and the prisoners [i.e., terrorists], or to create tools to pay them so that they would constitute a prelude to stopping the salaries and allowances of the prisoners and the Martyrs, the president’s position was clear and it represents all the Palestinians by him saying: ‘If one penny is left in our pockets, it will be paid to the prisoners and the Martyrs.’
This is something strategic for us, something that is not subject to any issue connected to pressures, extortion, blockade, or threats from here or there. This is a clear position for us that we will continue.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, April 17, 2024]
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed for years that the PA leadership sees its Martyrs and prisoners as the most important and honored people in society who deserve more financial rewards than people who work.
PA officials are now stressing that glorifying and rewarding terrorists is supported by the entire Palestinian population.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post PA Official: Palestinians Approve Paying Terrorists More Than Civil Servants first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.