Violence could hit EU aid to Palestinians

THE European Commission has warned that it could find it very difficult to disperse aid in Palestine if its offices continued to be attacked and personnel were in danger.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that six Palestinians grabbed from a West Bank prison will be charged and tried by Israel, despite Palestinian claims that the arrests were illegal.

Israel says five of the men seized in the day-long raid in Jericho on Tuesday were involved in the 2001 assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi. The sixth is the suspected financier of an illegal weapons shipment several years ago.

Under an unusual arrangement, the Jericho jail was monitored by the US and Britain. Israel raided the compound after the foreign monitors left the building, citing safety concerns.

Palestinian militants yesterday released the last four foreigners they were holding, a day after seizing them to protest at the Israeli military raid.

Palestinian security officials escorted the four hostages, including a South Korean journalist, two French citizens and a Canadian aid worker, into the headquarters of the Palestinian preventive security agency in Gaza City.

Many in the European Parliament said the US and Britain had questions to answer over their monitors leaving Jericho jail a short time before the Israeli attack.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to address the parliament on Tuesday but returned home as the violence continued.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the Palestinian people will be the first to suffer from a breakdown in law and order. “The EU wants to be a reliable partner but all future assistance will be reviewed on the question of violence and on the question of recognition of Israel”, she said.

Irish MEP Proinsias de Rossa said Britain and the US had questions to answer about what he called their apparent complicity in the attack. “Why did the UK and US observers walk away [and] ... leave Palestinian prisoners vulnerable to such attacks?” he asked.