The European Union’s foreign ministers have rushed to forge a consensus on continued financial assistance to the Palestinian territories at an emergency meeting in Oman after a top European Commission official created confusion and anger by halting the aid.
In a statement, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said the EU and the Arab Gulf States “stressed the importance of sustained financial support” for UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency working with the Palestinians, and continued “humanitarian and development support for the Palestinians in the occupied territories.”
Mr. Borrell had sought to widen the scope of the meeting by inviting Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen and his Palestinian Authority counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, to the event, which was held Tuesday on the sidelines of an EU-Gulf States summit in Oman’s capital, Muscat.
Earlier, Mr. Borrell said the aid would continue after a review to ensure that none of the funds are leaked to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip and which the EU, the United States, Canada and Israel have labelled a terrorist organization.
“The suspension of the payments – punishing all the Palestinian people – would have damaged the EU interests in the region and would have only further emboldened terrorists,” he said Monday, doing damage control after Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commission’s top official for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, halted funding to the Palestinian territories.
Acting Spanish foreign affairs minister José Manuel Albares told Spanish radio that “this co-operation must continue. We cannot confuse Hamas, which is on the list of the EU’s terrorist groups, with the Palestinian population or the Palestinian Authority or the United Nations’ organizations on the ground.”
The decision by Mr. Várhelyi, who is an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was made unilaterally, according to Irish diplomats, after the horrific scale of the Hamas attacks on southern Israel became known.
As of Tuesday, at least 1,200 Israelis had been killed and 3,400 injured since Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on Saturday, Israeli authorities said. Gaza later came under a full Israeli siege, with at least 900 residents of the densely populated strip of land on the Mediterranean killed in air strikes, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The UN said 180,000 of Gaza’s 2.3 million people had been internally displaced.
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Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed the confirmation that Palestinian aid was not in jeopardy. “Our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual commissioner and we do not support a suspension of aid,” the department said. “The review of funding should take place rapidly and in co-ordination with member states.”
Mr. Várhelyi caught the European Commission – the executive arm of the EU – and EU member states by surprise Monday when he said the bloc of 27 countries was suspending all payments from a €691-million aid program to the Palestinian territories. His announcement triggered a flurry of statements and counterstatements that gave the impression the EC was in chaos.
The EU has traditionally been the biggest donor to the territories, including Gaza, which has been under an air, sea and land blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007. Palestinians desperately need the funding to help pay salaries and pensions and to provide health care services, access to clean water and humanitarian assistance during conflicts.
Gaza, which has been described as an “open-air prison” by Human Rights Watch and other aid agencies, is especially reliant on outside funding.
Only a few hours after Mr. Várhelyi announced the suspension, Ireland, Spain and Luxembourg decried the move, saying it was done without the approval of member states. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Borrell tweeted that “the European Commission will not suspend due payments” to the Palestinian territories, though he did not define what he meant by “due,” creating further confusion.
Mr. Borrell’s stand was praised by aid and human-rights groups. “The mere prospect of suspending aid is not only alarming but is unacceptable,” Oxfam said. “Suspending aid will be a collective punishment jeopardizing the lives of countless Palestinians.”
But the continuation of payments has not pleased all EU member states. On Monday, Germany said it was suspending bilateral development aid to the Palestinians, and Austrian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Schallenberg said in a radio interview that €19-million in funding would be “put on ice for now.” Meanwhile, other countries, including Italy, said the Palestinian aid payments should continue.
Eric Reguly