The EU is trying to regroup on the issue of aid to the Palestinian people. There is consensus on the following points: support for the Palestinian National Authority is to continue, and Israel must defend itself but respect international law.
On Saturday, Hamas militants stormed Israel’s border around the Gaza enclave and launched attacks on civilian and military targets, leaving more than 1,200 dead by Wednesday. Israel has responded with artillery and air strikes, and Gaza officials estimate more than 900 Palestinian casualties after five days of ferocious fighting.
On Monday evening, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had to qualify announcements on the freezing of development assistance payments. Contrary to Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi’s initial announcement on Monday that all payments would be suspended immediately, the Commission corrected itself by announcing it would review aid payments to the Palestinians.
The bloc planned to support the Palestinian people with 1.18 billion euros for the period 2021 to 2024, a press release said.
Commission representatives said it had been agreed not to disburse any funds until the completion of a review of aid. “Our humanitarian support to the Palestinian people is not in question. Yet it is important that we carefully review our financial assistance for Palestine,” von der Leyen said. “EU funding has never and will never go to Hamas or any terrorist entity.”
The US, the EU and Israel designate Hamas as a terrorist group. There were no payments foreseen at the moment and the review would not concern humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, a Commission press release said.
On Wednesday, von der Leyen declared that Hamas’s killing of Israeli civilians was a cold-blooded act of war and reflected an “ancient evil.” She said: “We have to be clear in defining this kind of horror. And there can only be one response to it. Europe stands with Israel. And we fully support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
“Our humanitarian support to the Palestinian people is not in question. Yet it is important that we carefully review our financial assistance for Palestine. EU funding has never and will never go to Hamas or any terrorist entity.”
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
Majority of EU countries against freezing aid for Palestinian people
The representatives of the 27 EU countries held emergency talks on Tuesday after the surprise attack by Hamas and as Israel unleashed a reprisal bombing campaign of Gaza. During the informal consultations among EU foreign ministers, an overwhelming majority of European Union countries rejected a proposed freeze on payments to the Palestinian Authority, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“Not all the Palestinian people are terrorists,” Borrell said after talks with EU foreign ministers in Oman and via videoconference. “A collective punishment against all Palestinians will be unfair, and unproductive. It will be against our interest and against the interest of peace.”
France was “not in favour of suspending aid that directly benefits the Palestinian people”, the French Foreign Ministry said. France contributed 95 million euros in aid to the Palestinians last year.
The acting Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, criticised the initial response of Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. He also regretted the EU’s aid review as it seemed to imply that the EU has been financing a terrorist organisation “for years.” He stressed that “there is no evidence that this funding has not been used for the purposes for which it is intended.”
On Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for sustained humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territories, a day after Berlin said it was suspending development assistance. She also urged the Palestinian Authority to distance itself “from this terror” after the Hamas assault on Israel, adding that “it cannot be justified. As the Palestinian Authority you have a duty, also to your own people.” On Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said all development aid with the Palestinian Territories was being put under review.
Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani said the review was a result of the new circumstances and that “there should be no misuse of these funds.”
The United States said on Tuesday it welcomed EU support for continuing development aid to the Palestinian people. “They did reverse that, which is a step that we welcome. We have made very clear that we do not have any grievance with the Palestinian people,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“Not all the Palestinian people are terrorists. A collective punishment against all Palestinians will be unfair, and unproductive. It will be against our interest and against the interest of peace.”
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
EU opposes total siege of Gaza, says Borrell
EU foreign ministers also urged Israel not to cut “water, food, or electricity” to Gaza and called for humanitarian corridors for those trying to flee the territory, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said. The European ministers insisted on the need for “respect of international humanitarian law,” Josep Borrell said.
“Israel has the right to defend (itself) but it has to be done accordingly with international law, humanitarian law, and some decisions are contrary to this international law,” Borrell told journalists in Oman’s capital Muscat. He said the EU meeting called for “humanitarian corridors to facilitate people who have to escape the bombing of Gaza” across the border to Egypt.
Borrell had also invited Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki to an emergency meeting of top diplomats on Tuesday. Later, Borrell said that neither the Israeli foreign minister nor his Palestinian counterpart took up an invitation to address the EU meeting.
EU and Arab Gulf States discuss regional impact
On Tuesday, the European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council called for sustained aid for the Palestinian territories following concerns that it could be axed after the Hamas attack on Israel. The latter is a regional, intergovernmental, political and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Foreign ministers from the two blocs met in Muscat.
Fears of a regional conflagration have surged amid expectations of a looming Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, the crowded enclave from where Hamas launched its land, air and sea attack on Saturday.
“They stressed the importance of sustained financial support for UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East),” said a joint declaration read out by Borrell.
On Tuesday, the Slovenian government decided that it will allocate 150,000 euros to the UNRWA this year. The dire humanitarian situation made the additional funds all the more justified, the press release said, adding that Slovenia’s contributions to the UNRWA usually range from 50,000 to 150,000 euros per year.
Future efforts at de-escalation
Meanwhile, Ireland’s head of government, Leo Varadkar, warned that international support for Israel could wane if the country went too far in its response against Hamas. “From Ireland’s point of view, we are saying to Israel, ‘Yes, you have a right to defend yourselves (…) but any response must be proportionate,” Varadkar said, adding that there “is a risk of violence breaking out in the West Bank and Lebanon and other places.”
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said “this is a way to shift the world’s focus from Russia’s attack against Ukraine and an attempt to spread these tensions to larger parts of the world.” He added that the outcome of this crisis would determine what will happen “in the world for decades ahead.”
Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani emphasised that Italy was ready to contribute towards “fostering de-escalation between the parties and preventing a widening of the conflict.” Tajani will travel to Egypt which is a frequent mediator between Israel and Palestinians.
On Wednesday in Cairo, 22 foreign ministers of the Arab League called for an immediate halt to Israeli attacks on Gaza. The final statement said it was necessary to revive the peace process and “begin serious negotiations between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinians and Israel to achieve a fair and comprehensive peace.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to travel to Israel on Thursday. The US and Israel have traditionally had a close friendship. The US supports Israel with billions of dollars – a considerable part of which goes into defence against rockets.
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