The EU on Monday increased the pressure on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel and renounce terrorist violence by suspending all direct aid to the new government.
Europe is the largest single donor to the Palestinian territories, providing 500 million euros (US$606 million) a year, of which just under half goes directly to the authority. Aid organizations warned that the decision to cut off assistance would simply damage people living on about US$1.8 a day and drive them further into the arms of extremists. Aid accounts for 25 percent of Palestinians' incomes.
But EU foreign ministers said aid for electricity, water, food, health and education would be channelled via agencies close to, but not controlled by, Hamas.
PHOTO: AP
Their decision to suspend aid came after the Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek warned that the authority's financial crisis was desperate, leaving him unable to pay 140,000 civil servants. EU ministers dismissed such talk as exaggerated. Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, said aid had been suspended while "an urgent search for other routes to ensure that public servants like teachers and doctors get paid is undertaken."
He added: "Our overwhelming concern is to make sure that ordinary people's lives are not damaged. At the same time European taxpayers would find it intolerable if they found their money used for terrorists or terrorist operations."
Hamas could resolve the problem by committing itself to non-violence, recognizing Israel and abiding by previous peace agreements with the Jewish state, he said.
So far the signals from Hamas had been contradictory, with the Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appearing helpful while the Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar continued to talk about wiping Israel from the face of the map.
The new Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, severed all direct contacts with the Palestinians at the weekend and said Israel would freeze relations with foreign officials who met Hamas officials. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said it violated previously signed agreements and international law. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said Israel's step amounted to a "declaration of war."
Fourteen Palestinians, including two children, have been killed by Israeli attacks since Friday night
The attacks are an attempt to halt the firing of missiles from Gaza into Israel.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS