Protest EU Decision

international | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Sunday April 23, 2006 21:53 by eoin - Ireland-Palestine Solidairty Campaign supportpalestine at ireland dot com 01-6770253

Protest the EU decision to cut funds to the Palestinian Authority

In protest at the EU decision to restrict funding to the democratically elected government of the Palestinian Authority the IPSC will be organising a stall:

When? Wednesday 26th 12.30 - 14.30
Where? Outside the offices of the European Commission 18 Dawson St., Dublin 2

All are welcome to come and help out or to sign a letter asking the EU to rescind their decision to cut funding.

Hope to see you there,

thanks,

IPSC

In protest at the EU decision to restrict funding to the democratically elected government of the Palestinian Authority the IPSC will be organising a stall:

When? Wednesday 26th 12.30 - 14.30
Where? Outside the offices of the European Commission 18 Dawson St., Dublin 2

All are welcome to come and help out or to sign a letter asking the EU to rescind their decision to cut funding.

*** To get more information about the EU decision and its impact please read the stories pasted below: ***

1. From the Israeli Peace Bloc (Gush Shalom)

A CALL TO EUROPE (Gush Shalom)

We, Israeli patriots concerned about the future of our state, hereby call upon you, the leaders of the European Union and the heads of European governments:

Stop the blockade on the Palestinian government!

Don't starve a whole people in order to overthrow its elected government!

Only three months ago, European monitors supervised the Palestinian elections. They confirmed Palestine as the first democracy in the Arab world (holding its second democratic elections, the first having been won by the Fatah movement.)

This time, a Parliament with a Hamas majority was elected. Now you are giving the Palestinians a lesson in democracy: you are telling them that, unless they overthrow the government they have just elected, there will be no milk for their children, no medicines for their sick, no work for their unemployed, no salaries for their doctors and teachers.

You are fulfilling the cynical prescription of the advisor to our Prime Minister: "We need to make them lose weight, but not to die."

This is not only a barbaric policy, it is also a terrible mistake: no people in the world would submit to such brutal and humiliating pressure from outside. The inevitable result will be a further radicalization of Palestinian opinion, and a deepening of the hatred for Israel and the West in the whole of the Arab and Muslim world.
That will make the prospect of peace even remoter, the peace we all need like air to breathe. It will lead to a bloodbath, which will cost the lives of thousands - Israelis, Palestinians, Europeans and Americans.

Talk to the Palestinian government!
Start a dialogue with Hamas!

Certainly, they must recognize the State of Israel's right to exist, just as Israel must recognize the right of the State of Palestine to exist. But such recognition will grow out of negotiations, not the other way round.

Certainly, they have to stop violence, just as Israel must do so. But even at this stage a prolonged armistice can be achieved.

Certainly, they must accept the Two-State solution, and so must Israel. But their leaders have already hinted that they are ready for it - and this must be put to the test of negotiations.

We call upon you, leaders of Europe:

It is in the interest of Europe, as it is in the interest of Israel and Palestine, to achieve peace. Don't succumb to pressure from outside interests, whose policy has already led to several recent disasters in the Middle East.

For the sake of all of us: follow an independent line, guided by wisdom and morality!

GUSH SHALOM
The Israeli Peace Bloc

2. Oxfam criticizes EU decision to suspend aid to Palestinian Authority
Report, Oxfam, 10 April 2006

EU foreign ministers have agreed on a freeze of EU aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, according to newswire reports. Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday (10 April) decided to continue the European Commission’s temporary suspension of payments to the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories. The commission announced the suspension on Friday (7 April). In a letter to the Middle East Quartet, Oxfam warned that Palestinians are on the edge of survival. It said that "one in four people depend on aid. Three in four live on 2 dollars a day. Their plight will worsen, if donors stop giving aid to the Palestinian Authority."

Open letter to the Members of the Quartet and international donors

Oxfam International, the international confederation of development organizations, is deeply concerned that the already serious humanitarian situation facing the Palestinians may become far more acute with some donors considering cutting funding to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and with the impact of continuing Israeli restrictions on social services and economic activity.

Oxfam International believes that international aid should be provided through the Palestinian institutions and local authorities charged with delivering essential services, including health and education, regardless of which party is in power. The Palestinian Authority was created by the international community to meet the needs of Palestinian civilians and is a legitimate channel for humanitarian funds.

We believe that this is the worst possible time to cut funding. The recent elections in both the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel represent significant changes in the political context and therefore an opportunity to move the peace process forward, one that the international community should seize. To cut funding risks squandering the positive potential that may exist in the new governments and risks making an already fragile situation more dangerous. Whatever the politics of such a decision, it would be ordinary people who would suffer the consequences.

Donor aid to the Palestinian Authority accounted in 2005 for about one quarter of Palestinian gross disposable income and pays the salaries of 152,000 employees, providing vital support to almost one million people, or one in four of the Palestinian population. Stopping this aid would clearly have a major impact on ordinary people.

Palestinians are already on the edge of survival, with over 60 per cent of the population living on less than $2.10 per day. Their plight will now worsen if international donors withhold aid to the Palestinian Authority. Such a step would weaken the Palestinian Authority and deprive Palestinians of critically needed health and education services at a time when the Palestinian economy is suffering a serious reversal of development because of Israel’s occupation and the ongoing conflict.

Suggestions that, in response to the Hamas election victory, international donors channel humanitarian assistance through international non-government organizations are not the answer. This would further undermine Palestinian institutions that are vital to both immediate assistance and any prospects for longer-term development. Moreover, few international NGOs have the capacity to channel such funds and essential services would suffer.

Other vital measures are also needed to ensure the capacity of the Palestinian Authority to provide essential services and also keep the Palestinian economy afloat. Palestinian tax revenues, which last year totaled approximately half of the Palestinian Authority revenue, have been withheld by Israel in violation of the internationally agreed Oslo Accords and the Paris Protocol. They should be transferred by Israel without delay.

Palestinian livelihoods are threatened because farmers are prevented from reaching their fields, water supplies or sources of inputs and from selling their produce in nearby markets, as a result of the Separation Wall and restrictions on movement under occupation. In addition, Israel’s repeated and often lengthy closures of the Karni crossing into the Gaza Strip, amounting to two out of every three days so far this year, have had a devastating impact on Gaza’s 1.3 million people. Essential food supplies including bread, sugar and yogurt have become extremely scarce.

The Karni closures have also been catastrophic for Palestinian agriculture, costing Palestinians up to $500,000 a day, according to UNOCHA estimates, and coinciding with the main growing season for cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers for the European market. It is vital that Israel allows Palestinians free access to markets, in line with obligations under the Paris Protocol.

Civilians suffer the most from conflict and urgently need protection under International Law. The protection of civilians will only come through a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Any framework for negotiations must include UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, which call for Israeli withdrawal from lands occupied since 1967, and reaffirm the right of Israel and a future Palestinian state to exist within secure borders.

Israel, as the occupying power, has legal responsibility under the 4th Geneva Convention to ensure access to basic services for Palestinian civilians. The international community also has the legal responsibility to hold Israel accountable for any violations against the Palestinians under International Law.

While the Quartet discusses the status of the new elected Palestinian representatives, the current and growing pressure on Palestinian civilians demands urgent action by the international community to bring all actors to the conference table to seek a durable solution to the conflict in accordance with International Law. Oxfam has consistently called on all parties to pursue a negotiated peace settlement.

With the worsening humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians and the potential opportunity offered by new governments in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, we urge you not to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority and to redouble your diplomatic efforts to address the humanitarian situation so that civilians are protected.

When? Wednesday 26th 12.30 - 14.30
Where? Outside the offices of the European Commission 18 Dawson St., Dublin 2

All are welcome to come and help out or to sign a letter asking the EU to rescind their decision to cut funding.

Hope to see you there,

thanks,

IPSC