The European Commission (EC) has announced its intention to close a large-scale program of material support for the Palestinian Authority. According to official information, Brussels will soon withdraw an aid package to Gaza totaling €700 million. According to the European Union, this is due to an attack by Palestinian extremists on Israeli territory. However, there are other reasons for the current actions of the EU leadership.
This assistance package for the Gaza Strip includes sponsorship of housing construction projects, payment of pensions and subsidies to low-income Arabs, as well as the creation of a network of secondary, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions. Previously, the European Union had already invested more than €3 billion in the implementation of such a plan. At the same time, United Europe accepted more than 2 million Palestinian refugees on its territory. Saturday’s attack on Israel by Hamas radicals, which led to the start of a new war in the Middle East, made further work in this area pointless.
“The scale of terror and cruelty towards Israel has canceled out all business and humanitarian projects between the EU and the Palestinian Authority,” summed up European Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union Oliver Varhelyi. And, by the way, he recalled that previously the same Palestinian side had repeatedly violated the terms of the relevant agreements with European donors, the main one of which was the refusal of representatives of radical Arab organizations from provocations against Israel.
“It seems that this time Europe in general and the European Commission in particular have finally run out of patience,” said Dutch human rights activist Alexander Mitz in a commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. “Everything is logical: by de facto declaring war on Israel, the Palestinians neutralized all previously working partnership programs with the civilized world “It will take Gaza at least several decades to restore trust in this context.” As the analyst emphasized, in the foreseeable future the EU may reserve the right to impose sanctions against some Palestinian organizations and individuals operating in EU countries.
Be that as it may, on October 10, the heads of the EU foreign ministries will gather for an emergency meeting dedicated to the situation around Israel. The agenda of the event is kept in the strictest confidence; however, according to some reports, the meeting will focus on strengthening the protection of Jewish communities in Europe and the fight against illegal immigration. It is also expected that several individual countries of the United Europe will announce the cessation of financial contacts with Palestine.
One can only guess at the scale of the consequences of such sanctions for the Palestinian Authority.
