EU WONT RECOGNIZE UNILATERAL BORDERS

Commissioner: the EU will not recognize unilateral borders By Yossi Lempkowicz

JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS (EJP)--- The European Union will not recognize any border between Israel and the Palestinian territories that is drawn unilaterally by Israel, European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero- Waldner said Monday. On a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank, she made the remark at a private meeting in Jerusalem with Yossi Beilin, a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and chairman of the leftist Meretz party. She later told a joint news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s West Bank “realignment plan” was ’very courageous,’ the EU believed
that unilateral steps would not bring ’real peace.

Olmert returned from a trip to London and Paris last week, in which he failed to obtain the support of European leaders for his plan to determine Israel’s final borders by 2010, unilaterally if necessary, by evacuating tens of thousands of settlers and relocating them in major settlement blocks. At their summit meeting at the end of last week in Brussels, EU leaders made it clear that they favour a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, and asked Israel to refrain from unilateral measures.

New mechanism endorsed by Quartet

Benita Ferrero-Waldner also discussed Monday with the Israeli foreign minister a long-awaited new mechanism set up by the EU for supplying direct aid to the Palestinians without the money passing to or through the Palestinian government. The three-part mechanism includes direct funding of the Palestinian health sector, an uninterrupted supply of essential utilities such as electricity and fuel, and, thirdly, a ’social safety net’ or fund from which basic allowances will be paid directly to the bank accounts of needy Palestinians. The first two parts of the mechanism will be launched immediately while the aim is to have part three of the mechanism functioning ’as soon as possible. The EU is set to begin transferring more than 100 million euros to the Palestinians from next month.

The aid will be funnelled through the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is to sign and authorize all necessary documents, in order to bypass the government led by the Islamic Hamas group. In a news conference in Ramallah, Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdul Razeq said the Hamas-government objected to the fund. The Quartet - the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the EU- which sponsor the stalled Middle East peace plan known as the ’road map,’ endorsed the new mechanism Sunday, after some initial reservations from the US. Prior to her departure, Ferrero-Waldner welcomed the endorsement. “The backing of the Quartet is an important step that will enable us now to start implementing our proposals. Europeans are determined to play our part in preventing a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories,” she said in a press release issued in Brussels. But there can be no business as usual with a government that has not yet accepted the fundamental principles of peace,she added.

Israel undecided

Livni said Sunday that Israel would only make up its mind on whether it would use the mechanism to transfer funds to the Palestinian Authority after hearing the final details about it in her meeting with Ferrero-Waldner. Israel collects more than 50 million dollars a month in tax and customs duties from goods passing through its ports and airport to the West Bank and Gaza on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, but it has frozen the transfer of the revenues since the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council or Parliament was sworn in February. The EU suspended direct financial aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas, which won parliament elections in January, formed a government in March.

Hamas, considered as a terrorist organisation by the EU, has refused to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous obligations and agreements. The EU has, however, expanded its assistance to help meet Palestinian basic needs. 154 million euros has been made available since the beginning of 2006. Hamas, considered as a terrorist organisation by the EU, has refused to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previous obligations and agreements. The EU donates the most money to the Palestinians. Ferrero-Waldner’s aides insisted that she would not meet with any member of the Hamas-led government during her trip to the Palestinian territories.