Bob Blackman MP (Harrow East) strongly condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) for its continued glorification of terrorists, and provision of salaries to convicted terrorists and their families, in Foreign & Commonwealth Office Questions on Tuesday.
Mr. Blackman asked Minister for the Middle East, Rt. Hon. Alistair Burt MP: “Since September 2015, some 58 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in more than 400 separate stabbing, shooting and car ramming incidents. The terrorists have been rewarded with honorary titles, monthly salaries and other opportunities. Will my Right Hon. Friend make it clear to the Palestinian Authority that, until such time as glorification of terrorism ends, there can be no peace in the Middle East?”
The Middle East Minister said in response that the UK Government condemns “incitement and violent activities in the region at all times”.
The PA has continued to honour terrorists as martyrs ‘killed in action’, and provide pension payouts to terrorists and their families through the Palestinians Martyrs fund. Often the amounts received have been directly proportional to the numbers of Israelis killed and injured in the attack.
Many terrorists are also glorified through honourifics such as the unveiling of “Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square” by the PA in June 2017, named after the mastermind of the Ma’alot Massacre in 1974. Terrorists took school children and their teachers hostages, and eventually murdered 22 children and 4 adults. Nazzal also planned two further attacks, which killed 5 and wounded 47 others.
Just yesterday the Table Tennis Association announced that they would be naming a tournament at the end of February in honour of Ahmed Nasr Jarrar, who killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach in a drive-by shooting in January. Jarrar was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers while resisting arrest on February 6th, 2018, and has also had Futsal & Handball tournaments named after him.
Responding to a separate question on supporting peaceful coexistence for Israelis and Palestinians, Minister Burt underlined that the “United Kingdom supports the concept of an international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace”, adding that the “Department for International Development’s people-to-people programme has similar aims, and brings together individuals from both sides to build support for a durable solution”.
Click here to read the exchanges in full.
