A Senate committee approved legislation Thursday that would suspend US financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it ends payment to prisoners and martyrs’ families.
Members of the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to pass the measure sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham and the committee chairman Bob Corker.
Graham said the PA has “enshrined in law a system that creates a monetary incentive for acts of terrorism by paying monthly stipends of as much as $3500 to Palestinians who commit acts of violence.”
“To me it’s almost a definition of a war criminal” Corker said of the payments.
Corker said he was confident the bill would become law sometime in the coming months. Similar legislation has also been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Opponents of the bill have said they are concerned that cutting off economic aid to the Palestinians would increase poverty and instability in the West Bank and Gaza fueling more violence.
