EU HUMANITARIAN AID PACKAGE OF $26 MILLION IS ANNOUNCED FOR PALESTINE

Mon 16 May 2022:

The European Union pledged €25 million in humanitarian aid for vulnerable Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Monday.

The European Commission stated in a statement that the financial help is intended to offset rising energy and food prices exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which comes on top of the West Bank and Gaza’s economic problems.

The funds will go toward providing basic services and assistance to Palestinian families, as well as “healthcare assistance, including mental care for trauma, to those affected by the continued violence, the ramifications of the blockade on Gaza and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to the statement.

“The EU continues to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic.

He stressed that the EU will continue to “insist on the full respect for international humanitarian law and condemn the continued evictions of civilians and demolitions of their homes, schools and basic infrastructure.” “This needs to stop.”

The new pledge comes amid criticism on the EU executive body for delaying the disbursement of financial aid for Palestine promised for 2021 because of a controversy over school textbooks in Palestine allegedly containing anti-Semitic texts and incitement to violence.

“There is no reason for the European Commission to delay over €300 million of funding for the Palestinian Authority,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told reporters on Monday on the way to the meeting of EU top diplomats.

He explained that he had already raised this problem at last month’s reunion and “every minister, except one, spoke strongly in favor of the immediate release of that money.”

“This is EU money, it’s not European Commission money,” Coveney underlined, promising that he will again talk about the problem at the meeting.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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