Former Aqsa Martyrs members demand PA pay raises
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
02/18/2013 01:12
The gunmen, who had been pardoned by Israel, say that the NIS 1,500 that each one of them receives from the PA is not enough.
Palestinian gunmen from Al-Aqsa brigades of Fatah Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Former members of Fatah’s armed wing, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, demanded Sunday
that the Palestinian Authority raise their salaries.
The gunmen, who had
been pardoned by Israel, said that the NIS 1,500 that each one of them receives
from the PA was not enough.
They threatened to launch protests in the
West Bank if the PA government did not increase their salaries.
Muhammad
al-Ashkar, a spokesman for the group in Tulkarem, said that he and his friends
would stage demonstrations if the PA government did not comply.
He said
that the Fatah members were also considering going on hunger-strike to demand an
increase in their salaries.
Al-Ashkar pointed out that some 20 Fatah
gunmen had four years ago to lay down their weapons in return for a pardon from
Israel.
Since then, he added, each one of them has been receiving a
monthly salary of NIS 1500 from the PA government.
Al-Ashkar told the
Palestinian news agency Safa that repeated demands to increase their salaries
have fallen on deaf ears.
Over the past few years, dozens of Fatah gunmen
agreed to had their weapons over to the PA and stop their activities in return
for an Israeli promise to stop pursuing them. In return, the PA government
agreed to pay the former fugitives monthly salaries and recruit some of them to
its security forces in the West Bank.