Wetherhorn

On July 20th the official Palestinian TV, Al-Ayyam, aired an interesting short item. It seems that young women in Gaza want to marry men who have been wounded during confrontations with Israeli forces. For a young man in Gaza there is a possible choice between earning a university degree, and then being unemployed, or to engage in a violent clash with Israeli security forces. Anyone who is injured while engaged in such behavior is treated like those who have been imprisoned by Israel. Those individuals, or their families, are given a relatively generous monthly stipend by the Palestinian Authority. The unemployed graduate cannot afford a family while the ‘wounded martyr’ has a guaranteed income that allows him to marry, buy or rent a home, and raise children.

This is one reason why the Israeli government deducts a sum equal to such ‘Pay-for Slay’ allowances from the tax revenue it collects for the Palestinian Authority from salaries paid to Palestinians that are working inside Israel. I’ve heard that when the US Government talked about putting similar conditions on American economic aid the Palestinians responded by rejecting ALL American aid. Surreal, isn’t it?