Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have made to the Palestinian Authority over reports that it has provided millions in monthly salaries to convicted Palestinian terrorists serving sentences in Israeli jails.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK regularly raises the issue of prisoner payments with the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Minister of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Mr Swayne) raised the matter with PA Finance Minister Bishara during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in August 2014. No UK money is used for payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, or their families. The UK’s direct financial assistance to the PA is used to pay the salaries of public sector workers only.