A former Palestinian terrorist filed has filed a petition with the High Court of Justice over the lack of oversight in the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority. The former Fatah member alleged the money is being used to fund terror activity and corruption within Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government.
Mohammad Aref Massad, who currently lives in Haifa, made his demand in an urgent petition he filed last week against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Knesset Finance Committee.
Last week, the government voted to turn a NIS 500 million loan to the PA into a grant the Palestinians would not have to pay back, and Massad in his petition demanded the funds be directly transferred to Palestinian workers and needy families.
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Chairman of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan and Mohammad Massad
(Photo: Shomron Regional Council)
Massad was born in a small village near Jenin and by the age of 13 had joined the ruling Fatah faction. At one point, he even became a member of Fatah’s armed group called “Black Panther,” whose gunmen carried out numerous attacks against Israelis during the First Intifada. He was arrested by the IDF and spent more than seven years in prison.
In his petition, filed through lawyer Michael Litvak, Massad asked the court to order the Israeli government to explain why it won’t halt the transfer of tax-revenue funds - collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians - to the government in Ramallah.
One of the people who assisted Massad in filing the petition was Chairman of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan.
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Yossi Dagan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington
(Photo: Shomron Regional Council)
Dagan on Wednesday urged Netanyahu, Kahlon and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett to examine Massad's petition.
"Beyond the daily struggle families have to cope with under the Palestinian Authority's regime, the blatant corruption described in the petition shows that the PA is using funds to support terrorism," said Dagan. "I call upon the Prime Minister to examine these serious allegations."
“They [PA government] steal the money from the mouths of their people and take it to fund terrorists in prisons and buy Mercedes for themselves."