Brussels, 24/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Louis Michel, European Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, will be in the Middle East from 25 to 29 April to assess the humanitarian situation. His visit will take in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Syria. Speaking to the press on 24 April, his spokesman confirmed that the Commissioner's mission to the occupied territories was still on the agenda, despite the announcement by the armed branch of Hamas that the truce had ended.
The Commissioner plans to see for himself what the humanitarian situation is in a region that hosts one of the largest populations of refugees and displaced persons in the world, a Commission press release stresses.
While in the West Bank, Louis Michel will visit humanitarian projects on the ground and meet the victims of the conflict. He will also meet Mr Azzam Al-Ahmad, Deputy Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and Ms Tzipi Livni, Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs. While in Jerusalem, he will attend a conference on international humanitarian law that will bring together the main humanitarian donors and actors in the region.
In Jordan and Syria, the Commissioner will visit humanitarian projects financed by the European Commission, including Palestinian refugee camps and areas accommodating Iraqis who have fled from the violence in their own country. Mr Michel will meet Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
The EU is the world's leading donor to the Middle East. Since 2000, the European Commission alone has allocated over €333 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Palestinians (via ECHO, its humanitarian aid service) in addition to development aid. It has also recently allocated €10.2 million in relief aid for victims of the Iraqi crisis. (an)