Scrapping the system of salary-type payments has been a major demand of successive US administrations. Abbas had long resisted pressure to halt the program.

Pro-Israel advocates dubbed it “pay-for-slay,” and pointed to it as evidence that the Palestinian Authority, while itself disavowing armed conflict, incentivized terrorism. During Trump’s first term, Congress passed legislation cutting aid to the P.A., which governs Palestinian areas of the West Bank, based on the payment program.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo RAMALLAH,

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree overturning a system of payments to the families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed by Israeli forces that has been a longstanding source of friction with the United States.

The system — referred to as "pay for slay" by the first Trump administration and the Israeli government — was a major point of friction between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. and Israel have argued for years that the system incentivized attacks on Israelis,