Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mohammad Shtayyeh has announced that the PA will stagger its March salaries, paying a different group of employees each day.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) noted that the first group to get paid will be medical and security employees, and the second group will be jailed terrorists and the families of "martyrs" - terrorists who were killed while carrying out terror attacks.
A notice published on PA media read: "Since the wheels of production, import, and consumption have stopped, there will be a great drop, of more than 50%, in the PA's income....the international aid will decrease, because the whole world is in crisis, and therefore we will act according to a more modest emergency budget, by reducing expenses as much as possible."
"However, we will pay the salaries for the current month in full, and across several days, to prevent large groups from gathering outside the banks. This will be conducted as follows: On the first day, the salaries of medical and support staff will be paid, and on the second day, salaries of security employees will be paid. On the third day, salaries will be paid to prisoners and the [families of] martyrs. On the fourth day, we will pay those on welfare and the poor, and on the fifth day we will pay teachers. On the sixth day, we will pay the rest of the country's employees. The last payment, the seventh, will be for senior officials, state employees of various ranks, and ministers."
PMW noted that "instead of the monies that the PA is spending on compensation for terrorists during March, it could have purchased 387,143 coronavirus test kits, or 465 ventilators."