Informed Speculation

When Saddam Hussein provided money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, I referred to it as a ‘de facto declaration of war’ on Israel. Now, Mahmoud Abbas, a man I and other friends of Israel had high hopes for, has proven himself a moral coward on the level of Hussein, at least in this instance:

The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has approved a new law, providing monetary grants to the families of suicide bombers.

Abbas gave his approval just six days ago, a day before a suicide bomber struck the HaSharon Mall in Netanya, killing five Israelis and wounding scores of others.

Once again, we see the wisdom of Ariel Sharon; there can be no negotiations with these ‘leaders’. One can only fortify and disengage…

UPDATE 10:50 a.m.: What could be behind such a belligerent move? Perhaps this; if so, this is electoral pandering of the worst imaginable sort…

UPDATE 2 12:51 p.m.: Geek, Esq., in the comments, questions the impartiality (that’s putting it mildly) of the source. I shared those concerns before I posted, but found a couple of other sources that I didn’t list here but have in the comments…I would actually quite hope to be proven wrong on this – if anyone knows any information either pro- or con-, it would be much appreciated (particularly if you can read Arabic)…in the interim, it’s only fair to note that all the sources I have on this are not as objective as I would like…I’ll update you if I hear anything further…

UPDATE 3 8:52 p.m.: Okay, no ‘major’ media outlets are picking this up – so put this one up as ‘questionable’ at this time…I’ll continue to seek confirmation or vice versa and update if necessary…

UPDATE 4 12/13/05 9:04 a.m.: Another interesting allegation from the Jewish Exponent:

Saadi al-Wahidi, a senior official at the P.A.’s Civil Service Administration, told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda on November 16 that the P.A. has created a special committee to determine the pension eligibility of all members of Palestinian armed organizations, such as the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, the Kassam Brigade, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The payments will be retroactive and include current and former Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

This committee was established following the September 3 announcement by the Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Sufayan Abu Zayda, that his office deposits salaries of $400 to $500 a month for each prisoner, in addition to a $50 monthly payment each for expenses in the prison canteen. The Palestinian Prison Affairs office also funds current prisoners’ legal expenses and medical treatment.

All together, Abu Zayda said, his office receives $4 million a month from the P.A. to support Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

The P.A.’s open financial support for terrorists builds on the official legal recognition and responsibility taken for all Palestinian terrorists by the P.A., made for the first time on August 21 by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Praising the terrorists who died, Abbas said that their families “need to be truly cared for, not just by [Palestinian] society but [also] by the Palestinian Authority, and therefore we have decided to allocate 5 percent of all government positions to them.”

Abu Zayda also noted that an additional $100,000 is dedicated to tuition for every terrorist prisoner who seeks higher education.