US House ‘to suspend’ aid to Palestinians

WASHINGTON — US lawmakers voted yesterday to withhold aid to the Palestinian Authority if it does not stop the controversial practice of so-called martyr payments to families of Palestinians convicted of terrorist attacks.

The House of Representatives passed the legislation by a unanimous voice vote.

The bill would have to clear the US Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump in order to become law. But it highlights the outrage in Congress towards the Palestinian Authority's continued use of payments to convicted attackers' relatives, and to the attackers themselves while they are in prison.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has called for an end to the payments, which total several million dollars annually.

Republican and Democratic US lawmakers alike have warned that the payments incentivize violence and serve as a sticking point in the Middle East peace process.

"The Palestinian Authority should be forced to choose between its despicable practice of paying terrorists' salaries and receiving foreign aid funded by the American taxpayer," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement after the vote.

The Taylor Force Act is named after a US military veteran and graduate student, age 28, who was killed in a 2016 attack while he was visiting Israel. The attacker, a Palestinian, was killed by police.

House ForeignAffairs Committee chairman Ed Royce called the Palestinian policy a "perverse pay-to-slay system."

"The Palestinian Authority gives salaries to Palestinians who attack innocent people like Taylor. If the attacker dies, their family is compensated," he said.