EU plans to go it alone with aid for Palestinians
Thank God for some common sense.
News is coming out that the EU have decided to give aid to the Palestinians even if talks with the US and Russia fail this week. Washington has so far resisted any attempts to aid the Palestinians that could be seen as helping Hamas.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU external affairs commissioner, who was in Egypt at the weekend, said: "We do hope there's a chance for a common agreement on this issue." She refused to set a deadline but admitted that the humanitarian crisis among Palestinians was worsening.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner confirmed that the EU, which in the past provided half the PA's aid, or €500m (£342m) a year, plans to release €34m in humanitarian aid to be channelled through agencies, but officials suggested it could unblock other funds if the quartet talks failed. Russia is sending £5.4m for Palestinian health and education, using Mr Abbas as a conduit.
The draft British proposal for the internationally administered fund said that "without sufficient revenues there is a risk the PA will not be able to deliver basic services. This could have serious consequences for living standards, political stability and the humanitarian situation".
Last week, 36 aid agencies issued a joint report warning they are incapable of handling the funding crisis.
The EU plan is to use the Palestinian president as a liaison point for delivering pooled funds via the World Bank or IMF to the Hamas-led PA, rather than placing it under his control. "The international mechanism would enable us to control and deliver health and education funds," Ms Ferrero-Waldner said.
On Saturday Mr Abbas's advisers said Hamas had again refused to change its policy towards Israel, renouncing violence, recognising the Jewish state and standing by past peace deals. The EU and US have reaffirmed that these are absolute conditions for dealing directly with the PA.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner, who sanctioned the release of €120m in February, said a further €125m was blocked. "There might be some salaries paid for health and education but it's not yet clear and it might have to go through the World Bank." Saying the EU was "not abandoning the Palestinians", she insisted Israel should use the international mechanism if necessary to pay withheld tax and customs revenues worth €40m a month to the PA.
I am delighted that the EU are taking such a moral position and ignoring the Israeli and American insistence that the Palestinians should be punished for making their democratic choice of leadership known.
The situation in the Gaza Strip was being likened to the crisis that faced Kosovo, so we can only be grateful that the EU have put pragmatism before ideology.
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