OMEN
04-08-2006, 10:12 AM
WASHINGTON: The United States and the European Commission suspended aid to the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, pushing the Palestinian authority closer to financial collapse.
The State Department, making its announcement, said it would boost humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through United Nations agencies to avoid widespread distress in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the United States would not fund an organisation committed to the destruction of Israel.
The suspension would be lifted if the Palestinian cabinet recognised Israel's right to exist and renounced violence, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Quoting a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he said the Palestinian cabinet must meet terms laid out by the Quartet – the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
"The path back to the road map is clear: acceptance of the three principles. If it accepts the Quartet principles or a new government comes to power that accepts them, funding can be restored," the statement said.
In Brussels, the European Commission said it had halted aid payments to the Palestinian government for the same reason.
Hamas, a fundamentalist Islamic organisation that has carried out many suicide bombings in Israel, won a sweeping victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January but did not formally take over the government until last week. Facing an immediate financial crisis, Hamas is scrambling to find ways of paying 140,000 workers employed by the Palestinian Authority who support about a third of the population in the territories.
Hamas has appealed to Arab states and Iran to fill the shortfall, but has not even been able to find a bank willing to handle its finances.
Even before the aid cutoff, many Palestinians struggled to subsist in an economy suffering from widespread poverty, high unemployment and rife with corruption.
Israel has stopped turning over about $US50 million($NZ82.54 million) a month in taxes and customs revenue it collected on behalf of the Palestinians under previous agreements and its banks have begun cutting ties with the Palestinians.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar warned the EU that cutting aid would harm its credibility and could lead to boycotts of European interests in the Islamic world.
"I am afraid (cutting aid) may wreck the credibility of the European Union in the Arab and Islamic world," Zahar said.
The EU Commission appeared keen to play down the aid freeze and avoid responsibility for pulling the plug on the Palestinian Authority, to which the bloc has been the main donor since its creation under the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
About $US35 million in direct government aid was currently in the pipeline, an EU official said.
"We have to prepare some changes in terms of financing," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Prague, adding that the Hamas government had not yet signaled it would meet the international community's conditions.
Diplomats said the European freeze covered all direct aid to the Palestinian government and payment of public employees' salaries with EU funds through the World Bank, but not humanitarian aid through international and non-government organisations.
But the charity Oxfam warned that NGOs do not have the capacity to run health and education services and cutting aid would deprive the Palestinian population of these services.
"The Palestinian Authority is responsible for (these services) and therefore donors must keep funding it," Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam, said in a letter to the EU.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer said if the EU wanted Hamas to change its stance, it should negotiate with the new government and not just repeat a "broken record" about the three principles.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/reuters.gif
The State Department, making its announcement, said it would boost humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through United Nations agencies to avoid widespread distress in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the United States would not fund an organisation committed to the destruction of Israel.
The suspension would be lifted if the Palestinian cabinet recognised Israel's right to exist and renounced violence, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Quoting a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he said the Palestinian cabinet must meet terms laid out by the Quartet – the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
"The path back to the road map is clear: acceptance of the three principles. If it accepts the Quartet principles or a new government comes to power that accepts them, funding can be restored," the statement said.
In Brussels, the European Commission said it had halted aid payments to the Palestinian government for the same reason.
Hamas, a fundamentalist Islamic organisation that has carried out many suicide bombings in Israel, won a sweeping victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January but did not formally take over the government until last week. Facing an immediate financial crisis, Hamas is scrambling to find ways of paying 140,000 workers employed by the Palestinian Authority who support about a third of the population in the territories.
Hamas has appealed to Arab states and Iran to fill the shortfall, but has not even been able to find a bank willing to handle its finances.
Even before the aid cutoff, many Palestinians struggled to subsist in an economy suffering from widespread poverty, high unemployment and rife with corruption.
Israel has stopped turning over about $US50 million($NZ82.54 million) a month in taxes and customs revenue it collected on behalf of the Palestinians under previous agreements and its banks have begun cutting ties with the Palestinians.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar warned the EU that cutting aid would harm its credibility and could lead to boycotts of European interests in the Islamic world.
"I am afraid (cutting aid) may wreck the credibility of the European Union in the Arab and Islamic world," Zahar said.
The EU Commission appeared keen to play down the aid freeze and avoid responsibility for pulling the plug on the Palestinian Authority, to which the bloc has been the main donor since its creation under the 1993 Oslo peace accords.
About $US35 million in direct government aid was currently in the pipeline, an EU official said.
"We have to prepare some changes in terms of financing," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Prague, adding that the Hamas government had not yet signaled it would meet the international community's conditions.
Diplomats said the European freeze covered all direct aid to the Palestinian government and payment of public employees' salaries with EU funds through the World Bank, but not humanitarian aid through international and non-government organisations.
But the charity Oxfam warned that NGOs do not have the capacity to run health and education services and cutting aid would deprive the Palestinian population of these services.
"The Palestinian Authority is responsible for (these services) and therefore donors must keep funding it," Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam, said in a letter to the EU.
Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer said if the EU wanted Hamas to change its stance, it should negotiate with the new government and not just repeat a "broken record" about the three principles.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/reuters.gif