Hours after EU officials said no EU money would go to Hamas, the European Commission said there would be no suspension for now, but has started ‘an urgent review of the EU’s assistance for Palestine’
EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi speaks during a press conference in Tirana, Albania, on Oct. 6. Varhelyi said Monday Oct. 9 the bloc is suspending 'all payments immediately' to the Palestinians because of what he called the 'scale of terror and brutality' during the attacks of Hamas against Israel.
The surprise announcement by Varhelyi on development aid came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money whatsoever was going to Hamas in the first place and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group. The EU says it’s the biggest donor to the Palestinian people and has been advocating for years for the two-state approach that has guided international diplomacy since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
During an earlier briefing Monday, the European Commission sought to draw a clear line between Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, and the Palestinian people, who are in need of humanitarian aid. The commission said that humanitarian aid wouldn’t be affected by the review.
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