The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund

Palestinian Authority law created payments for prisoners and for families of people described as martyrs. Because prisoner payments rose with sentence length, attackers convicted of more serious crimes could receive more money. Congress responded through the Taylor Force Act. Claims that the program ended in 2025 remain disputed because the underlying laws and payment records have not been independently resolved.

Why the payment structure matters

OZJF opposes public payments that reward attacks on civilians. The bipartisan Taylor Force Act reflects the same concern by conditioning most U.S. economic assistance on ending the payments and repealing their legal basis. The relevant evidence is the structure of the PA laws and whether later reforms actually changed it.

What the law actually says

Two PA laws set up the program.

The first is the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners (Law No. 14 of 2004), which treats every Palestinian held in Israeli prisons as a “fighter for freedom” and sets a pay scale tied to time served. The second is the Law of the Wounded and Martyrs of the Palestinian Revolution (Law No. 3 of 2013), which pays families of Palestinians killed while attacking Israelis.

Both laws were reviewed and summarized by Palestinian Media Watch in a line-by-line English translation. The translation matches the original Arabic text and has been cited in U.S. congressional testimony.

The official scale ties higher payments to longer sentences. Palestinian Media Watch’s analysis of the pay scale reports that prisoners serving long sentences, including people convicted of killing Israelis, can receive several times the amount paid to short-sentence prisoners. Families classified as those of “martyrs” receive a continuing allowance. Because PMW is an advocacy organization, its translations and calculations should be checked against the cited legal texts.

What the United States did about it

In March 2018, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, named after a U.S. Army veteran stabbed to death in Jaffa in 2016 by a Palestinian who was later added to the martyrs rolls.

The law is short and direct. It cuts most U.S. economic aid to the PA until the State Department certifies that the PA:

has stopped paying for acts of terror,
has revoked the laws and decrees that authorize those payments, and
is publicly condemning and working to prevent such acts.

The full text is in public law and codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2378c-1. The State Department’s annual Taylor Force Act reports have not yet certified compliance.

What changed in 2025 remains disputed

In early 2025, the PA announced a cabinet decree and new “social assistance” arrangements meant to replace the prisoner pay scale. Reuters covered the announcement and noted the PA’s own statement that the change was driven by U.S. and European pressure.

The underlying laws had not been repealed, and Palestinian Media Watch published follow-up analysis alleging that payments continued through renamed budget lines. Independent confirmation was not yet available. Until legal repeal and auditable payment records are available, claims that the former system ended should be treated as unverified.

Why civilians still matter here

Palestinian civilians are not responsible for the acts of prisoners or for the policies of the PA. Most Palestinians are not attackers. The criticism here concerns a government payment structure, not collective blame for the people that government claims to represent.

The policy standard

A credible reform would repeal the laws that tie payments to prisoner or martyr status, replace them with ordinary need-based assistance, and permit independent verification. Until those steps are documented, U.S. aid restrictions under the Taylor Force Act remain a defensible response.

The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund: What the Law Actually Pays For