Societies warn of the danger of continuing the policy of cutting the salaries of the families of martyrs by President Mahmoud Abbas
NO:53/2019
Date: 9 Oct 2019
During a workshop organized by the International Commission..
Societies warn of the danger of continuing the policy of cutting the salaries of the families of martyrs by President Mahmoud Abbas
Occupied Palestine / Gaza: During a meeting organized by the International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR), they all stressed the need to stop the policy of cutting salaries or reducing them for the families of martyrs, warning of the danger of continuing this policy, which may push thousands of families to the brink of the abyss because of their inability to provide the basic needs of their family.
The participants called on the Palestinian Presidency to issue an immediate decision to approve the martyrs and wounded of the 2014 aggression, similar to the rest of the martyrs and the wounded, with retroactive effect, as well as the issue of their financial dues should be placed on the scale of its financial priorities, and the policy of distinguishing between martyrs according to the date of their martyrdom should be stopped.
This came during a workshop entitled: “Implications for the continuation of cutting the salaries of the families of martyrs” which was held today, Wednesday, 9/10/2019, at the headquarters of the International Commission in Gaza City, attended by a number of politicians, jurists, and youth activists, in addition to the families of the martyrs.
Issam Abu Daqqa, a leader in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, affirmed that the salaries of the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners are the right of their children and their families whom we are proud of, indicating that their cause is political and a serious legal transgression, as well as a humanitarian and moral transgression.
Abu Daqqa called on the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities by issuing a clear decision to approve the martyrs of 2014 retroactively, with the need to continue the struggle with all our strength to lift the injustice inflicted on the families of the martyrs and the wounded, and the Palestinian division must end as soon as possible and provide all the elements of steadfastness to the people.
He also called for the necessity of continuing the activities, sit-ins, and periodic meetings in a peaceful manner, so that all rights are gained without any decrease.
In turn, Alaa Al-Barawi, a spokesman for the National Committee for the Families of the Martyrs, said that we have been holding sit-ins for more than 5 years, demanding the rights of the families of the martyrs of 2014.
He addressed the leadership, saying: “You should be ashamed of yourselves, these salaries are not a favor from anyone, as they are rights established by Palestinian law, whether in the PLO or in the Legislative Council.”
He continued, “We say to all the leaders of the Palestinian people, stop the division, for more than 12 years we have been waiting for solutions, we are waiting for reconciliation, and we do not see any solution on the horizon. Unfortunately, the division has made all the people of the Gaza Strip needy and beggars.”
The meeting included a presentation by the families of the martyrs and prisoners of their catastrophic suffering, as a result of the martyrs’ families of the 2014 aggression not being approved by the Martyrs and Wounded Foundation, which forced some of them to stop their children from university studies and sell their properties to pay off their living obligations and the debts accumulated on them, in addition to their inability to pay the minimum of the services and medicines needed for the wounded, stressing their refusal to distinguish between martyrs on the basis of organizational affiliation, and hold the authority and the president responsible for cutting the salaries of the families of the martyrs and the wounded.
