European Coalition for Israel

Clear guidelines for EU-funding can help reform Palestinian society

Brussels, 4 May, 2006 – “The European Union has to take full responsibility for allowing corruption and mismanagement of European funds in the Palestinian authority, hence  creating an environment where terrorist groups like Hamas can thrive and win an election.” This was the message of Dr Jürgen Bühler of the European Coalition for Israel who spoke before a full auditorium in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday. The funding dilemma for the European Commission – refusal to fund the Hamas lead government but a continuous commitment to support the Palestinian people – had created an unprecedented interest in the funding model with some 70 people in attendance, many of them Members of European Parliament, international diplomats or EU-officials.

Though the funding model does not specify for example how teachers and nurses can be paid by the European Union without supporting the Hamas lead government, it does give clear guidelines for a reform of the Palestinian society itself. In the funding model Bühler mentions four principles which should apply for any future funding to the Palestinians, regardless of the recipient. These principles are; full accountability with independent auditing, not only European funds but also from other donor countries, stricter benchmarking of human right according to EU criteria for cooperation agreements, zero tolerance of terrorism and funding with a longterm perspective.

The European Coalition for Israel applauds the fact that the new Hamas lead government will not be funded by the European Union unless it gives up violence, recognizes the state of Israel and commits to agreements made with the previous government. Recognizing that the new policy of the European Commission is to fund Non-Governmental Organisations and not the government, Bühler reminded the European Parliament that the same principles which applies to governments also applies to civil society.

- “NGO's which are fueling the conflict by promoting violence or by inflammatory speech should not be supported by the EU. It does not make any difference whether these NGO's are Palestinian or European”, he said. The European Coalition for Israel is calling for a strict monitoring of the civil society organisations which the EU is supporting to ensure that they fulfill the criteria for receiving funds.

According to Bühler there is now a unique window of opportunity to strengthen and support an autonomous Palestinian civil society with the capacity to reform the society from within. He noted that the new policy of the European Commission is to support pro-democracy and human rights groups in countries where they are suppressed or disregarded by their own government, such as Belarus. “The same policy should now be applied towards Fatah and the Palestinian society as a whole”, he said.

In line with the fourth pillar of the funding model which calls for a long term perspective Bühler argued for a gradual dismantling of the refugee camps and the creation of a work plan on how Palestinian refugees could be integrated in to their societies according to the UN convention on refugees. This would be an important step in defusing the conflict with Israel. In her closing remarks the chairwoman of the European Parliament delegation to the Knesset, MEP Jana Hybaskova noted that this issue is currently being explored by a number of MEP:s and may in due time lead to a concrete proposal from the European Parliament.