| US and European aid to Palestine halted |
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by Joanna Zonunsangi, 24x7 Updates
Washington -- The Palestinian government’s failure to recognize Israel has proved a costly proposition as both the United States as well as the European Union announced on Friday that they were halting all payments to the Hamas led Palestinian government.
U.S. secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has said that the Palestinian government ’must take responsibility for the consequences’ as the Hamas led government had failed to meet donor’s demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence. She said that the aid would however reach the Palestinians through the United Nations and other independent organizations.
Ismail Haniya, Palestine’s new Hamas prime minister has attacked the United States and the European Union for cutting direct financial aid. He said that the move was "hasty and unjust" he also felt that this move would not serve the interests of the Middle East and that the Palestinian people should not be punished for their democratic choice. In reference to his group’s victory in the January elections Mr. Haniya has said, "The world should respect the choice of the Palestinian people."
Officials at the US State department have said that American aid would now be given to the executive branch of the government led by the president, Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas has been quite vocal in his criticism of the Haniya government’s failure to recognize and reach out to Israel. This statement from the State department however has been contradicted by supporters of Israel in the US congress who have said that they would object to the money going to Mr. Abbas.
Emma Udwin, the spokeswoman for the European Union’s executive branch has said, "We are not authorizing any payments that go to the Palestinian authority or through the Palestinian authority." Since the creation of the European Union in 1993 under the Oslo peace accords, it has remained the Palestinian Authority’s largest donor. Since Hamas won the Palestinian elections early this year the European Union has been warning them of their losing European aid unless they renounced violence, accepted past peace agreements and recognized Israel.
Since its foundation in 1994, the Palestinian authority(PA) has received approximately $ 600m a year as aid from the European Union and another $ 400m from the United States.
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