The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Palestine (AHLC), meeting on Tuesday 30 April in Brussels, called on Palestinians and Israelis to engage in dialogue on budgetary issues.
The Hebrew State has decided to withhold a portion of the tax revenues it regularly transfers to the Palestinian Authority (PA) under the Oslo Accords, which would correspond to the amount that the PA would pay to Palestinians detained in Israel, their families, and released prisoners. In retaliation for this decision, the PA refuses to accept any tax revenue, unless it is transferred in full (see EUROPE 12200/3).
The AHLC “urges the parties to engage in a serious dialogue to address a broad range of outstanding fiscal issues”, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, whose country chairs the AHLC. She indicated that the members of the AHLC were willing to help. According to the Norwegian minister, the “extreme” austerity measures put in place by the Palestinian Authority “cannot be sustainable in the long term”, adding that international donors would not be able to fill this financial gap.
“A solution to the current crisis must be found in order to avoid the financial collapse [of the PA], which would have terrible consequences for the region's security”, warned High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
Ms Søreide, on behalf of the AHLC, called on the international community to cooperate and finance an economic and humanitarian package in Gaza to improve the situation on the ground and to restore basic infrastructure, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority. She also called for assistance to UNRWA, saying that the UN agency's difficult financial situation could “allow radical groups to become operational in refugee camps”.
Ms Mogherini announced a further €22 million in assistance for the most vulnerable people in Gaza and the West Bank.
A collective effort is needed to put the Palestinian economy on a more sustainable path, the Norwegian minister also argued. However, like Ms Mogherini, she made it clear that such assistance must not be a substitute for a two-State solution. ‘The construction of a Palestinian state and its economic development can never substitute for the political process and negotiations between the parties”, Søreide warned, recalling AHLC's support for a negotiated two-State solution. Negotiations on open issues related to territories, borders, security, movements, Jerusalem, refugees and natural resources must be concluded, she added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)