EU to continue its support for Palestinians

The European Union has not made any siginficant change to its policy of supporting the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) declared the formation of a new Palestinian government on Saturday, an EU official said on Tuesday.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, made the statement after arriving at the airport of Morocco's biggest city of Casablanca.

However, Ferrero-Waldner said Hamas should abide by the the three principles set by the Middle East Quartet -- the EU, Russia, the United States and the United Nations, including Hamas' recognition of Israel, the renouncing of violence and its recognition of existing agreements, especially the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The EU will judge the Hamas-led government by what Hamas says and does, she added.

With regard to the financial difficulty faced by the PNA, Ferrero-Waldner said the EU, together with other members of the Middle East Quartet, is negotiating with Middle East envoy James Wolfensohn in a bid to help the PNA avoid a financial exhaustion.

The EU will wait for the result of the forthcoming talks between PNA President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas-led government to decide whether to provide aid or how much to provide, she said.

Ferrero-Waldner, who is on a visit to Morocco, will meet Moroccan prime minister and other officials on the development of bilateral relations, cooperation projects and other regional and international issues.

The EU is the single largest donor to the Palestinians. Aid given by the executive European Commission and EU member states combined stood at about 500 million euros (600 million U.S. dollars) annually in recent years.

The surprising victory of Hamas in Palestinian legislative elections in January has put the EU in an awkward position. The 25-nation bloc faces a dilemma of providing aid to the Palestinians and avoiding funds through the hands of Hamas, which is labeled as a terrorist organization by the EU.

Source: Xinhua