Palestinian Prisoner Payments

Israel’s Military Court System

Israel broadly defines what constitutes a security offense in the occupied territories. And as such, many Palestinians are prosecuted in military courts and face lengthy penalties for even nonviolent activities.

Types of Security Offenses³

Indictments of Palestinians, 2017⁴

Pervasive Detention

The pay-for-slay framing obscures the realities of the occupation for Palestinians. Political violence causes considerable harm to both Palestinians and Israelis, but Palestinians pay a disproportionately high cost in terms of detention. They also account for a majority of the conflict-related casualties (87 percent between 2000 and 2014).⁵

Detention of Children

500–700

children detained each year⁷

15,000

children detained between 2000 and 2017⁸

Palestinian Prisoners in the Context of Occupation

While Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are subject to civilian courts and receive support from tax-exempt U.S. organizations, Palestinians and their families face additional disproportionate punitive measures for crimes committed or suspected to have been committed, including the demolition of family homes.

Punitive Home Demolitions Since 2014¹⁰

Note: Punitive demolitions were paused between 2005 and 2014, except two sealings and one demolition in East Jerusalem, after an Israeli Military Committee found the policy was not an effective deterrent.¹¹

Punitive Home Demolitions During the Al-Aqsa intifada, 2000–2004¹²

Prisoner Payments as a Safety Net

Support for the payments is high at 91 percent among Palestinians.¹³ They see the payments as a necessary counterbalance to the indiscriminate application of Israeli military law and the challenges of living under Israeli occupation.

Payments to Families of Those Killed by Israel Include¹⁶

Number of Prisoners Receiving Payments in 2017¹⁷

U.S. Policy and Assistance

In 2018, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act—named after a graduate student and U.S. Army veteran who was killed by a Palestinian inside Israel. The law prohibits certain U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until the welfare payment system for prisoners and families stop and is replaced by a purely needs-based system. While the PA and PLO have signalled a willingness to reform, a universal needs-based welfare system may not be financially possible without international donor funding.

In the short term, President Joe Biden’s administration can legally provide many kinds of aid to the Palestinians, including humanitarian aid, security assistance, and voluntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The United States can also fund specific programs exempted by the Taylor Force Act, including the East Jerusalem Hospital Network and wastewater projects.