EU aid for Palestinian authorities suspended in wake of Hamas attack on Israel
Global News
Queries about what the move by the European Union entailed and how extensive its impact on Palestinian aid would be weren't immediately answered.
The European Union announced Monday that it was “immediately” suspending hundreds of millions of euros in aid for Palestinian authorities because of what an EU commissioner called the “scale of terror and brutality” during the attacks on Israel by Hamas.
Germany and Austria also announced similar measures.
“We need action and we need it now,” EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi tweeted. It also underscored strong words of EU support for Israel since the Hamas attacks started on Saturday, including that Israel had now every right to defend itself within the bounds of international law.
The surprise announcement by Varhelyi on development aid came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money whatsoever was going to Hamas in the first place and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group.
Queries about what the move entailed and how extensive its impact on Palestinian aid would be weren’t immediately answered.
Varhelyi said that “as the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review,” which he said amounted to 691 million euros ($730 million).
Varhelyi said that the measures include that “all payments (be) immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals ? postponed until further notice.”
The EU says it is the biggest donor to the Palestinian people and has been advocating for years for the two-state approach that has guided international diplomacy since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
