No EU Aid to Palestine

On a tour through the Middle East, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said on Friday that there would not be a change in the European Union's policy regarding aid to the Palestinian government but added that the EU would increase aid paid directly to the Palestinian poor.

"I think it will be increased ... because the needs have increased," Michel said. "The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories is deteriorating a lot. I remember when I came one year ago in the region, it was already awful and difficult, but now I think it is deteriorating."

The Palestinian territories have been reeling from the effects of a ban on direct aid to the government that the European Union and the United States imposed a year ago, when the Islamist Hamas movement formed a cabinet.

The European Union, the largest donor of aid to the Palestinians, has since funneled aid money through a special mechanism that bypasses the government, meaning that tens of thousands of civil servants have gone without full pay.

Payments bypass government

Palestinian officials had hoped a unity government formed between members of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction would convince the EU to lift the aid embargo. The Israeli government, however, has pressed for the EU to keep the ban in place until the Palestinian unity government recognizes Israel, renounces violence and abides by international peace deals.

"As long as these criteria are not fulfilled, there will not be a change in the system, the manner, the process of aid support from the European Union," Michel said.

EU officials estimated that -- even accounting for funds not issued through the government --the bloc sends about $34 million a month in "allowances" directly to health officials and civil servants to meet their basic needs.

Citizens' concerns come first

He said restrictions on movement that Israel imposed in the territories, citing security precautions, were partly to blame.

"I show a very high concern for the security of Israel," Michel said. "I know it is not an easy life to be under the danger of terror attacks... but at the same time when I see walls, when I see the fences and when I see the barriers, of course I can easily imagine it has very bad consequences on the daily life of the people in the Palestinian territories."

The Belgian EU official also condemned both the near-daily rocket attacks by Palestinian militants from Gaza on Israeli civilian towns and Israeli military actions targeting Palestinian population centers.

"My first concern... is to see how we can improve the access and the movement of the people," Michel added.