Haaretz
Adar 7, 5767
Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News
Agencies
The European Union has formulated a plan to renew
economic aid to the Palestinian Authority, if and when the new unity
government agrees to meet international demands.
According to the
program, the details of which were handed over to Israel, Europe is
prepared to grant humanitarian and economic aid to the Palestinians. The
program also includes "economic construction" to help bolster Palestinian
governmental capabilities, as well as aid to build institutions for a new
state, to create a legal system and support for a "blue" police
force.
If the Palestinians agree to international demands, the
current system of humanitarian aid - a program known as the Temporary
International Mechanism (TIM), which bypasses contacts with Hamas - will
be replaced with the International Mechanism, a program which will deal
directly with the Palestinian government.
The program was presented
and well-recieved last week during a summit of the Quartet of Middle East
peace negotiators.
European leaders have told PA Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas that the new unity government must clearly meet international
demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace
deals for sanctions to end, Abbas aides said on Sunday.
"We have
asked the Europeans to help us lift the sanctions but their response was
that the Palestinian government must be clear in its acceptance of the
Quartet conditions," senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said after a European
tour in which Abbas sought support for his power-sharing deal with Hamas
Islamists.
Israel on Sunday welcomed the European Union's initial
reaction to the Palestinian deal, saying European leaders remain committed
to their demands of any Palestinian government.
Meanwhile, Egypt on
Sunday rejected imposing any conditions on the new Palestinian unity
government and said it was up to the Palestinians to convince key
international mediators to end the U.S.-led financial
sanctions.
Jordan's King Abdullah has said there was common Arab
ground that the unity government must adhere to the demands of the
Quartet. The king's remarks in an interview broadcast on Saturday cast
doubts on the willingness of major Arab donors to sidestep a U.S.-led
embargo of the Hamas-led government.
But Egyptian presidential
spokesman Suuleiman Awad said: "There is always consultation between Egypt
and Jordan but the Egyptian position is that ... we cannot set
preconditions." He was speaking after talks in Cairo between Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah.
"The policies that the
new government will adopt is an internal Palestinian affair and Egypt has
not and will not interfere to impose stances," he told a news
conference.
EU official begins 4-day Mideast tour
Monday
The European Union is sending a top official on a tour of
the Middle East this week to try to maintain momentum in renewed efforts
to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
EU External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner begins a four-day tour on
Monday that will include stops in Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian
Territories and Jordan.
Her trip comes after a diplomatic push by
Abbas failed to persuade the European Union to lift a financial aid
embargo that has crippled the Palestinian government since the radical
Islamic Hamas won control of the Cabinet and legislature in elections a
year ago.
Abbas had hoped that an agreement with Hamas to form a
national unity government with his more moderate Fatah party would trigger
world powers to unfreeze aid money.
But the deal, reached during
talks in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, fell short of international
demands that any Palestinian government recognize Israel, denounce
violence and accept interim agreements with Israel.Hamas, which has in the
past called for Israel's destruction, refuses to meet those
conditions.
During Abbas' tour of Europe last week, European leaders
said they would wait until a new Palestinian government was formed before
deciding whether to resume direct aid.
On Saturday, French Foreign
Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, without mentioning foreign aid, pledged
France's cooperation with the new government, the one bright spot on
Abbas' four-day trip.
Ferrero-Waldner, one of the EU
representatives present the at two recent meetings of the revived Quartet
of Middle East mediators, said before leaving for the region that she
would discuss "with all parties how we can each play our part in keeping
the hope of progress toward peace in the Middle East alive."
On
Monday, she is to meet in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit as well as
with Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League
In Jerusalem on
Tuesday, she will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni.
On Wednesday, Ferrero-Waldner plans to meet
with Abbas and other Palestinian leaders. On Thursday, she travels to
Amman, Jordan.
A Quartet meeting last Wednesday in Berlin
underscored the group's demands for a Palestinian government that includes
Hamas to recognize Israel, foreswear violence and adhere to earlier
Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
The four powers - which in addition
to the EU include the United States, the United Nations and Russia - held
two gatherings this month after a period of dormancy. The group plans to
meet regularly and said in Berlin that it will hold a future meeting in an
Arab country, an apparent effort to involve moderate Arab governments in
the Quartet's efforts.
The prospect that a new unity government
will trigger a renewal of direct foreign aid to the Palestinian government
is slim. The Hamas-Fatah deal, the primary aim of which was to end a
period of violent factional conflict that killed more than 130 people,
skirted the issue of recognizing Israel.
Under the February 9
accord, Hamas agreed only to respect previous Israel-Palestinian
agreements.
The aid cutoff has affected some $1 billion in direct
annual foreign aid and about 400 million euros in tax revenues Israel
collects on imports heading for the Palestinians.
Israel has said
it would not negotiate a long-term peace deal with Abbas if he goes ahead
with a coalition with Hamas, limiting immediate prospects for progress
toward a solution.
Meanwhile, as a quick-fix solution, the EU has
been transferring hundreds of millions of euros through a temporary World
Bank-monitored program that pays allowances to Palestinian civil servants
who have gone unpaid and funds health and social projects.
EU
officials said Ferrero-Waldner's discussions will explore ways to improve
the disbursement of aid through the alternative aid
channel.
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