The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was “immediately” suspending development aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas to make sure no money was misused.
“There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be “immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals … postponed until further notice.”
No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. A full European Commission statement always trumps a statement from an EU commissioner, but the reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities.
Well at least they’re able to admit a mistake. Although you wonder how aid is going to get there if Israel is not even letting water flow into Palestine at the moment.
“we underestimated Israel’s capacity for barbarism and realise Palestinians still need aid after all”
