6-17-06, 9:53 am
GAZA, June 17, 2006 (IPC + Agencies) - - The Palestinian presidency welcomed yesterday the decision of the European Union to offer an aid package of €100 million to the Palestinian people through the presidency, amidst reservations by Hamas movement.
Chief negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat told AFP news agency that the Palestinian presidency welcomes the decision of the EU and any assistance offered to the Palestinian people, but calls on them to reconsider their boycott of the government and resume their assistance as was in the past.
'I value the European stance, but our need is much more than that, and we call on the world to exert all efforts to help the Palestinian people,' Dr. Erekat said.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Dr. Mahmoud Zahar criticized the EU decision, telling journalists on Friday that 'this attitude is unacceptable and conforms with Israel's increasing pressure and the collective punishment against the Palestinian people, in a way that does not serve security and stability in the region.'
'[This step] harms civilians who suffer from siege and starvation and didn't receive their salaries,' FM Zahar added, expressing amazement over the 'imbalance of standards'.
'Those who should be besieged are those who bomb civilians and occupy their land, not the weak ones and the ones besieged on the ground, sea and sky.'
Furthermore, Hamas movement spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri expressed his reservation over the European decision, refusing any conditioned assistance and stressing that such assistance should pass through the government.
The European Council has approved a temporary international mechanism to divert assistance to Palestinians through a fund that bypasses the Palestinian government formed by Hamas.
The spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said that 'the heads of states and governments have agreed on an aid package that will be channeled through a fund, to avoid passing through the Hamas-led government, and will be ready by the beginning of July.'
The spokesperson added that the assistance package consists of three sections, the first two of them will be released as soon as EU partners in the international Quartet Committee agree to this alternative fund. Those sections include basic healthcare assistance and energy supplies.
The third section includes a 'social security net' that will comprise direct payments to Palestinians on a need basis, which could 'take some time' according to the Commissioner's spokesperson.
'There is a lot of work, to determine how to accurately inform the beneficiaries and lay out a mechanism for that.'
The issue of paying Palestinian government employees' salaries through this fund has raised problems with the Americans, who oppose paying salaries by the international community. Europeans, however, stressed several weeks ago the necessity of paying 'compensations' for basic services employees as a minimum.
An invitation was made for all donors to contribute to this mechanism, which Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said might be used by Israel to channel Palestinian tax clearance revenues through it.
Ferrero-Waldner also announced that President Mahmoud Abbas' office will handle this mechanism on behalf of the donor community, including the signing and approving all necessary documents.
The EU External Relations Commissioner explained that she will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday to meet President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as well as Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni, in order to inform them of what has been agreed upon. She added that she will not meet with any member of the government formed by Hamas movement.
Meanwhile, the United States described on Friday the plan proposed by the EU to provide assistance to the Palestinian people while bypassing the Palestinian government as promising, but added that it will not eventually support the plan in order to give a chance to further discuss it.
'The agreement among the Quartet members up in New York is that the EU would take the lead in developing this [assistance package] proposal, but it would be the Quartet that would finally look at it and determine whether or not it was consistent with the principles that they had laid out months earlier in London,' US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
