Co-chaired by Dubravka Šuica, Commissioner for the Mediterranean, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, the second meeting of the Palestine Donors Group (PDG) was held in Brussels on Monday 13 July, with 65 international delegations in attendance.
The meeting first formally launched the operational deployment of the Team Gaza initiative, a cooperation platform designed to directly finance the restoration of essential public services in the Gaza Strip.
Coordinated by the European Commission, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the fund currently stands at €883.6 million, including €257 million proposed by the European Commission and the EIB.
It currently includes contributions from 13 countries, including nine EU Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden). Ireland, Australia and Canada have also expressed their willingness to join the initiative shortly.
The fund will be invested primarily in the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, governance and public services in Gaza, although Ms Šuica acknowledged that the region was “not ready for complete recovery”. Even so, this early recovery “cannot wait until every political question is resolved”, she argued.
Bilateral discussions also enabled the EU’s partners to agree on the implementation of two projects relating to water and waste management in the area. These projects had already been agreed with the Israeli authorities during an earlier visit by Ms Šuica to Tel Aviv (see EUROPE 13893/2).
On the sidelines of the PDG, the EU and 10 Member States signed new contribution agreements worth €41.7 million, incorporated into the PEGASE audit mechanism (an instrument created in 2008 to transparently funnel EU financial aid to the Palestinian population). These agreements will supplement the envelope of €310 million that has already been allocated to Palestine by the European Commission for the 2026–2027 period.
When asked about the US position at the meeting, Ms Šuica said that Jared Kushner, the United States Special Envoy for Peace – who was also present – and several advisers from the American Board of Peace had expressed their willingness “to work with [the EU]” on this issue.
The aim of the European effort is also to “move forward to push them [the United States] to work on the second stage of agreement”, the Commissioner said, specifying that the EU would prefer, if possible, “to lead this initiative”.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority presented its sectoral progress report, outlining several structural changes in the management of its public finances, governance, the overhaul of social protection and the modernisation of its education system. Mr Mustafa nevertheless stressed that “the ongoing withholding [by Israel] of Palestinian clearance revenues continues to undermine the government's ability to provide essential public services”.
Read the press release: https://aeur.eu/f/mv4 (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)