EU assesses Palestinian power-sharing pact

European Union nations today assessed a power-sharing deal among Palestinian factions, but officials said nothing about whether they were considering resuming direct aid.

The 27-nation bloc suspended that aid to the Palestinians last year after Hamas came to power following elections, saying they would not release the funds unless the government recognised Israel and renounced violence.

Last week’s announcement that the militant Hamas and moderate Fatah movements would form a coalition government that would “respect” past agreements with Israel continued to cause concern that minimum conditions for a normalisation of the EU’s relations with the Palestinian leadership had remained unfulfilled.

Ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said it was “highly important to keep up the political momentum”.

She outlined areas where emergency aid to the Palestinians – through a temporary programme overseen by the World Bank – could be expanded.

But, crucially, she announced no financing details and did not say when additional funding could be released.

“We will have to see how this national unity government will be set into action. This will take some time,” Ferrero-Waldner said.

She said the European Commission looked forward to a February 19 meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The EU, the US, Russia and the United Nations are hoping a power-sharing deal will end months of deadly factional violence. But the four members of the so-called “Quartet” of Middle East peacemakers have until now insisted that any Palestinian government must recognise Israel and existing Palestinian-Israeli accords and commit to ending all violence.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the EU ministers would study the power-sharing accord “very carefully” before making any decision to lift economic sanctions against the Palestinian government.

Palestinian officials were to meet with EU officials, including Javier Solana, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, this week to persuade them that the accord will meet those demands.

At stake are hundreds of millions of pounds in international aid. Some of these have been funnelled directly to Palestinian people in recent months through an emergency program bypassing the current Hamas-led government.

The EU, the US and others consider Hamas a terror group that is responsible for scores of deadly suicide bombings in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday the new Palestinian government must meet all international demands. He said in Jerusalem that his government held “urgent consultations” to discuss the accord, but had not decided whether to reject or accept the agreements.

Ferrero-Waldner said her proposal for a possible expansion of emergency international aid for Palestinians foresees contracting with independent organisations to improve border management, external auditing of the Palestinian budget and boosting good governance.

“There are quite a few things we can do,” she told reporters. “If there is a political momentum (toward a coalition government that recognises Israel) we want to enhance it.”

In 2006, the European Commission and the 27 EU governments funnelled some €230m to the Palestinians through the World Bank-monitored emergency aid scheme.

These funds helped pay for energy supplies, keep hospitals open and pay for allowances to unemployed and impoverished Palestinians.