10/12/2004
The Commission has
announced that it intends to spend âa further â¬7 million (£4.84 million) in humanitarian aid for people made vulnerable by the Middle East crisisâ. No, since you ask, it is not going to help people who have been victims of terrorist violence or, for that matter, victims of any violence doshed out by Javier Solanaâs friends, Hamas and other suchlike organizations.
The money is meant to help the poorest Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza as well as used to âto help rehabilitate the shelters of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syriaâ. The money will be channelled through ECHO (European Commissionâs Humanitarian Aid Office.
This will bring the amount the EU has spent in the Palestinian territories this year up to â¬37 million (£25.6 million), not a cent of which has been accounted for. This rather large sum of money appears to have had an entirely negative effect.
The intifada (started by the late unlamented pet of the EU, Chairman Arafat) has reduced the Palestinian people to the lowest level of poverty so far. The security barrier, put up by Israel to prevent terrorist attacks, has kept people away from the only sources of work and healthcare in the area, Israel. (Although it has prevented brainwashed and pressurized Palestinian children from blowing themselves up.)
One can but hope that Arafatâs death will lead to a new beginning for the unfortunate Palestinian people and they will no longer have to live in shelters, rehabilitated or otherwise.
In the meantime, could we have some accurate accounts of the money pumped into that rather troubled part of the world?