One of the more recent approaches to the demonization of Palestinians is the claim that the Palestinian Authority subsidizes “terrorism”, or what advocates of Israel gleefully call “pay to slay”. Listening to these sources, you’d think that the Palestinian Authority pays out bounties to incentivize Palestinians to go out and randomly attack Israelis. As per usual, this kind of talking point intentionally distorts and misrepresents reality.
What actually occurs is that the Palestinian Authority provides a small amount of money for the family of those put in jail so that they can sustain themselves. This applies to every single Palestinian prisoner who has spent a certain amount of time in Israeli jail, regardless of charges. Suggesting that this forms an incentive to go out and attack Israelis is as ridiculous as suggesting that meager unemployment benefits incentivize unemployment.
This family support is especially important considering that Israel practices a cruel form of collective punishment, where it demolishes the home of anyone suspected of being a “terrorist”. In such a condition, the family needs all the help it can get. Unless you believe that the family should starve in the street after becoming homeless solely due to them being related to an alleged “terrorist”, then you can see the necessity of such measures.
Another aspect that often goes unappreciated, is that part of these payments ends up in Israeli coffers anyway, as Israeli prisons are well-known for their negligence, and lack many basic necessities. Much of these payments are spent on providing for the basic needs of these prisoners in Israeli jails. This has been rather lucrative for Israel, as many a business have popped up whose practices revolve around exploiting thousands of prisoners with no other options, charging obscene amounts of money for blankets and other basic items.
Furthermore, the Israeli military court system that tries Palestinians and designates them as guilty of “terrorism” is notoriously racist and discriminatory. Bearing in mind that civilians shouldn’t be tried in military courts to begin with, they have an astonishing 99.7% conviction rate, meaning that you’re virtually guaranteed to be convicted of something regardless of your guilt or innocence. As if that isn’t bad enough, it has been widely documented that torture is still de facto the standard operating procedure in Israeli prisons to extract false confessions, and it’s very common for interrogators to force Palestinians to sign documents in Hebrew which they do not even understand. This is an especially popular tactic with children detainees who are more easily intimidated and manipulated.
As for the designation of “terrorist” itself, it is applied liberally and without even a second thought when it comes to Palestinians. For example, when Israel seized private Palestinian land to expand an illegal settlement, Palestinians responded by erecting a small encampment called Bab al-Shams on it as a peaceful demonstration against this action. Naturally, they were accused of practicing “construction terrorism” by Israelis and promptly beat, repressed, arrested and removed from the land. Another example was when Palestinians were preparing a case against Israel in the International Criminal Court, they were accused of practicing “legal terrorism“. Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes are described as “Terrorism in Prison“. Naturally, none of this would qualify as terrorism from an international law perspective, however, Israel uses this designation indiscriminately to demonize and ostracize any kind of Palestinian resistance, no matter how peaceful.
According to international law, it is legitimate for an occupied people to resist occupation by any means available to them. United Nations resolution 37/43:
“Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.
It continues:
“Reaffirms the inalienable right of the Namibian people, the Palestinian people and all peoples under foreign and colonial domination to self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty without outside interference”.
However, even if such a right was not enshrined in international law, it is natural for humans to want to rid themselves of domination and oppression. But since even the most peaceful methods are enough to paint Palestinians as terrorists, armed struggle would undoubtedly result in worse. However, historically this has been the norm for many a liberation movement. Even Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist in his struggle against Apartheid, MLK was called a “self-seeking rabble–rouser” and was accused of fomenting violence with his marches. Those who fight for freedom are always vilified by the reactionary powers of their time, Palestinians are no exception.
The more you research the long history of Palestinian resistance, whether armed or unarmed, you very quickly come to realize that the issue is the very concept of resistance, not its methods. It would seem like the only way Palestinians can escape this accusation is by just laying down and dying, but even then they’d probably be accused of “telegenically dying” to make Israel look bad, as Netanyahu once claimed [You can read more about this here].
It is, however, quite amusing that the Palestinian Authority has such a negative reputation among mainstream Israelis. If anything, the Palestinian Authority has been an incredible boon for Israel and its expansionist project. It is a deeply unpopular body among Palestinians for exactly that reason.
By nominally participating in the sham that is the Oslo peace process, Israel managed to transfer all of its responsibilities as an occupying power onto the Palestinian Authority while maintaining effective control over the entirety of the area. There is no point in denying the reality on the ground: There exists one sovereign power between the river and the sea. While the Palestinian Authority has some limited administrative powers in certain areas, it has absolutely no sovereign powers. As a matter of fact, Israel de facto even determines who is a Palestinian citizen and who is not through control of the civilian registry, that is how complete Israeli control is. So, to summarize, Israel still has all the benefits of an occupying power while having none of the responsibilities. Even worse, since much of the Palestinian Authority’s functions are supported by the international community through foreign aid, Israel has managed to reap the benefits of a well subsidized occupation.
Security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a cornerstone of the post-Intifada status quo, has greatly contributed to the repression of Palestinians and the criminalization of their resistance. It’s no coincidence that the Palestinian Authority is often described as a subcontractor for the occupation, because for all intents and purposes this has become its role, and this is how many Palestinians view it.
The fact that most Israelis see the Palestinian Authority as an enemy speaks to how little information they have about the current status quo, or how anything functions under their occupation of Palestinian society. They have swallowed wholly Israeli state propaganda designed to reinforce a bunker mentality, where Israel is always the victim and anyone ever asking anything of it is tantamount to genocidal incitement.
The vilification of Palestinians through outright falsities like the “pay to slay” and “pallywood” smears are designed to legitimize Israeli intransigence and expansionism. After all, if the other side is so untrustworthy and evil, why even give them one inch? Why compromise on anything? This becomes especially more egregious when you realize that Israel’s “compromise” during the Oslo negotiations was to simply lessen its violations of international law. With enough demonization, even that can be dropped, and Israel’s colonial landgrabs can continue unperturbed.
- Hajjar, Lisa. Courting conflict: The Israeli military court system in the West Bank and Gaza. Univ of California Press, 2005.
- Corbett, Ryan. “Prosecuting Collective Punishment: Israel’s Breach of International Law in the West Bank.” BU Int’l LJ 35 (2017): 369.
- Erakat, Noura. Justice for some: Law and the question of Palestine. Stanford University Press, 2019.
- Hanafi, Sari, and Linda Tabar. “The Intifada and the aid industry: The impact of the new liberal agenda on the Palestinian NGOs.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 23.1 ,2003: 205-214.
- Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Random House, 2010.