A court in Ramallah has ruled against the Palestinian Authority in a dispute over one prisoner’s monthly stipend, and a Jerusalem watchdog says the ruling exposes more than the case itself. The Ramallah Administrative Court issued its decision on May 4, according to a JNS report that leans heavily on Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
The ruling went against the PA’s decision to stop paying Ahmed Firas Hassan in mid-2025. The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund provides monthly stipends to people imprisoned in Israel for attacks on Israelis, and to the families of slain attackers. Critics call the system “pay-for-slay.”
Where the case came from
Hassan was not alone. His payments were halted along with those of another 1,600 prisoners, three months after PA chief Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree handing responsibility for prisoner stipends to a new body, the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI).
The PA set up PNEEI under pressure from Western countries to end the practice. It said the new body would pay prisoners according to socioeconomic status, not for violent acts. PMW says that was a transparent attempt to fool Western governments, and that “pay-for-slay” continues as usual. In February it published a report alleging a years-long deception aimed at international donors. PMW also says it is unclear why this particular group stopped being paid.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) brought the case for Hassan in August 2025, “with the aim of ending the salary crisis of approximately 1,600 prisoners whose salaries were stopped,” according to a May 5 Al-Araby Al-Jadeed report. NGO Monitor, which JNS cites, says the commission was established by Yasser Arafat and “regularly collaborates” with U.S.-designated terrorist groups.
What the PA’s lawyers argued
PMW’s central point concerns the defense. ICHR attorney Ahmed Nasra told Hebron’s Radio Alam on May 4 that the PA’s side never contested Hassan’s entitlement. “The defense of the administrative prosecution was mainly procedural and formal,” Nasra said, meaning they argued about defects in the lawsuit and its procedures instead.
“You are talking about 1,600 cases of people who already meet the conditions,” he added. The PA’s lawyers, he said, “had no reservation and did not appeal on the matter of meeting the eligibility conditions.”
PMW reads that as proof of its “con game” charge. It also says the ruling sets a precedent for the immediate resumption of salaries for all 1,600.
Washington’s numbers
In April, the U.S. State Department sent Congress a report showing that in calendar year 2025 the PA provided $156 million in payments and benefits to Palestinian attackers and their families.
