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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: May 8, 2006 |
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A top European Union official on Sunday urged Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian government to resolve the financial crisis facing the Palestinian Authority.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner encouraged both sides to take measures to end the two-month-long crisis that has left the PA's treasury unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 civil servants.
"We have to support the Palestinian people and not let them down," Ferrero-Waldner said. "The Palestinians have to change quickly...they have to do it for their own people," she said.
The commissioner urged the Hamas-led government to renounce violence and recognizing Israel_ the conditions stipulated by the EU and the United States for the resumption of aid beyond that strictly for humanitarian purposes.
But Ferrero-Waldner had a request for Israel as well. "The Israeli government has to transfer at least the taxes and customs money," she said. Following Hamas' January legislative elections victory, Israel froze millions of dollars-worth of monthly tax transfers to the PA.
Ferrero-Waldner spoke to the media after holding talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Although Egypt frequently mediates among Palestinian factions and between the Palestinians and Israel, Ferrero-Waldner did reveal the content of any discussions with Mubarak about the Palestinian financial crisis. She said they had spoken about the dialogue of civilizations and supporting economic and social reform in the region.
The talks came ahead of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday by the Mideast Quartet - which includes the U.S., EU Russian and the United Nations. The gathering is expected to discuss proposals for channeling aid to the Palestinians that circumvent Hamas.
In an instance of such a transfer, Russia on Saturday delivered $10 million in emergency aid to the Palestinians, bypassing the Hamas-led government by sending the money directly to President Mahmoud Abbas' office. Abbas distributed the funds to several health and education programs.
Ferrero-Waldner said the EU maintains its support for the Quartet-endorsed peace plan.
"We are clearly sticking to the roadmap," she said. "One of the messages from the Quartet meeting should be that both parties should re-engage according to the roadmap. We have the Palestinian president ready to go a head and hope that (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert is also ready."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Saturday after talks with Ferrero-Waldner that new dates need to be set for the roadmap, as the original plan envisioned the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. |
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