Saudi Arabia to host families of Palestinian ‘martyrs’
The ministry said that 500 families from the West Bank and another 500 from the Gaza Strip would benefit from the Saudi monarch’s gesture.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHSAUDI ARABIA hosts an international summit.(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Palestinian Authority welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to host 1,000 families of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks against Israel.Similar gestures were made by the Saudis in the past few years; however, this year it coincides with the Israeli decision to cut Palestinian tax revenues over payments made by the PA to families of “martyrs” and security prisoners.The Palestinian Ministry for Wafk and Religious Affairs said it received a letter from the Saudi authorities concerning their decision to cover the expenses of the families of “martyrs” during the Hajj pilgrimage in September.The ministry said the decision was made by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdel Aziz as part of a grant to the families, and that 500 families from the West Bank and another 500 from the Gaza Strip would benefit. A senior official with the ministry said that a special committee will choose the families of “martyrs” who will travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage.PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh thanked the Saudi king on Monday for his “hospitality in hosting 1,000 pilgrims of Palestinian martyrs’ families to perform the Hajj rituals this year.”Speaking at the weekly PA cabinet meeting in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said that the Saudi decision “is an Arab and Islamic message to us in response to the Israeli piracy of the allowances paid to martyr and prisoner families.”
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