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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: June 13, 2006 |
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was willing to support an EU effort to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, on the condition it isn't used to pay civil servants' salaries, a news report said.
Olmert, who arrives in Paris on Tuesday for his first official visit to France, was quoted as saying by Le Figaro newspaper that he wanted to get advice from President Jacques Chirac and to talk about his fears for Israel.
Several weeks ago, Chirac appealed to the international community to establish a World Bank fund to pay Palestinian salaries as a way to avert a humanitarian crisis without funding the Hamas-led government that took power in March.
The two leaders apparently disagree over whether paying wages should be key to EU aid efforts.
"We are ready to participate in initiatives ... on the condition that the money is not used for administration wages and that there is no direct or indirect support for governmental agencies," Olmert was quoted as telling Le Figaro.
Since Hamas took power, the West and Israel have imposed an economic boycott on the Palestinians, and the Hamas government is buckling under the pressure of severe international sanctions that have made it impossible to pay three months of salaries to 165,000 employees.
The international community has been increasingly divided over how much humanitarian aid should reach the West Bank and Gaza. Israel and the U.S. led a hard line, while the European Union and Russia expressed growing concern about an impending humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. |
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