RAMALLAH, Saturday, 30 November 2019 (WAFA) – The ex-prisoners protesting in Ramallah for over one month termination of their allowance by the Palestinian Authority (PA) were at one point paid employees when Hamas first formed a government after 2006, today said Qadri Abu Bakr, head of the PA’s Prisoners‘ Affairs Commission.
He told WAFA that these ex-prisoners had their allowance terminated since 2007 following the Hamas coup in the Gaza Strip because they were getting regular salary from the Hamas government formed after the Islamist movement won the legislative elections in 2006. As a result of this change in their status, the PA stopped paying them allowance as ex-prisoners.
“The law of the prisoners and former prisoners does not differentiate between prisoners of Hamas or Fatah or any other faction,” said Abu Bakr. “Every prisoner and ex-prisoner working in a job and getting paid a salary that exceeds a certain amount specified by law, will have his allowance terminated on the grounds that there are others who are entitled to this allowance, especially if they do not have extra income.”
He pointed out that there are dozens of ex-prisoners who had their allowances terminated after it was found out that they work other jobs or have their own business and their names appeared in the records of the Ministry of Finance.
“Since these protesters have two or three incomes, they do not meet the condition for getting an ex-prisoner allowance even if they spent long years in captivity,” he said.
Abu Bakr said that there are about 7,000 ex-prisoners from among the various factions, including Hamas, who regularly get their allowance in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Hamas-affiliated ex-prisoners are estimated at 3,000 and the average monthly allowance the former prisoners get ranges between 2000 and 2500 Israeli shekels ($570-720).
"There seems to be other reasons for this sit-in, and maybe Hamas does not want to go to national unity, or want to exploit them for electoral gains," he charged.
The 30 ex-prisoners have been holding a sit-in vigil at Ramallah city center for over one month demanding reinstating their monthly allowance. Some started recently observing a hunger strike and even stopped drinking water leading to serious deterioration in their health.
They however suspended yesterday their refusal to drink water following interventions by leading figures in an attempt to find a solution for their demands.
M.K.
