European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero- Waldner arrived for a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank and is scheduled to discuss a long-awaited, new EU aid mechanism in separate meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.The thee-part mechanism includes direct funding of the Palestinian health sector, an uninterrupted supply of essential utilities such as fuel, and, thirdly, a “social safety net” or fund from which payments will be made directly to the bank accounts of needy Palestinians. The latter include more than 160,000
The first two parts of the mechanism will be launched immediately, said a statement issued in Brussels, while the aim is to have part three of the mechanism functioning “as soon as possible.”
| Just as soon as they find a bank that will cooperate. |
Ferrero-Waldner’s office said she would not meet with any member of the Hamas-led government during her trip to the Palestinian areas. “Europeans are determined to play our part in preventing a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. But there can be no business as usual with a government that has not yet accepted the fundamental principles of peace,” the commissioner said prior to her departure.
| Not today, anyway. |