PA President Mahmoud Abbas fires all advisers, demands back bonuses
In June, leaked PA documents showed that Cabinet members had been given a 67% pay raise, increasing their salaries from $3,000 to $5,000 a month.
By ROSSELLA TERCATINPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses Arab journalists in Ramallah on July 3(photo credit: MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas fired all his advisers “regardless of their title or ranking,” the Palestinian News Agency Wafa reported on Monday. Furthermore, Abbas also abolished “the decisions and contracts related to them,” and suspended “the rights and privileges they received in their capacity.” Palestinian officials told the Associated Press that this move was part of an effort to cut costs after Israel decided to deduct the amount of money that the PA gives to terrorists and their families from the taxes and tariffs Israel collects for the authority. According to AP, several former ministers, including a former prime minister, were also asked to return tens of thousands of dollars from a pay increase that Abbas had secretly approved. In June, a leak of PA documents showed that cabinet members had been given a 67% pay raise, increasing their salaries from $3,000 to $5,000 a month. Moreover, the raise was applied retroactively to 2014.
The Knesset passed the “Pay for Slay” bill into law in July 2018. In the past months, PA employees have been receiving 50% to 60% of their salaries due to the PA financial crisis, while the economic support toward the families of security prisoners and Palestinians killed in attacks on Israel has not been reduced. According to AP, Palestinian officials speaking on conditions of anonymity said that Abbas would reinstate some advisers in the coming days.
