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EU tells Israel to release Palestinian customs duties

Updated: 08/Mar/2006 18:03

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for external relations

Photo: European Commission

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The European Commissioner for external relations has said Israel should transfer money due to the Palestinian Authority it has held back since Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January.

In an interview with Austrian newspaper Der Standard on Monday, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Israel should release customs duties of 60 million euros per month to the PA’s interim government.

"It would be important that the Israelis are paying out what is actually Palestinian money, the customs duties."

Although Hamas has not officially taken control of the government, it has a majority in the parliament which was sworn in last month and its choice for prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, has been accepted by PA president Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel put a halt to the transfer of customs duties to the Palestinian Authority as soon as it was announced that Hamas won the elections and would therefore be forming the new Palestinian government.

Essential funds

The customs duty and value-added tax that Ferrero-Waldner is referring to is usually collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, and then handed over automatically on the first of each month.
For many years the Palestinian economy has relied on using Israeli channels, where produce of the Palestinian territories, exported to Israel, is re-exported to other countries.

Under the 1993 Oslo accord, Israel is obliged to hand over the funds. However, Hamas have never recognized the Oslo Accords or Israel.

Israel’s acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered a freeze on these payments. Olmert said he will not allow "a situation in which money transferred by the government of Israel will somehow end up in the control of murderous elements".

Ferrero-Waldner also said during the interview that the EU will not continue its aid payments to the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces violence, and honors past agreements between Israel and the Authority.

The EU minister added that the EU may consider taking Hamas off its list of "terrorist organizations" if it fulfilled those demands.
"We will certainly have to reflect on that internally," she said, "but at the same time we have to say: our three principles have to be fulfilled."

French hope

Meanwhile, French President Jacques Chirac said that he was optimistic that Hamas would meet these requirements. Speaking at a press conference in Saudi Arabia on Monday, he said: “I hope the discussions with Hamas that some parties have begun can lead to this positive result.

“To be honest, I don’t doubt it will, since Hamas has to assume its responsibilities,” Chirac said, referring to meetings last weekend between Hamas leaders and the Russian foreign minister.
Chirac added that he was “hostile” to any international sanctions against the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of militant group Hamas.

“I know well that there some who envisage sanctions. For my part, I am hostile to sanctions in general and in this case in particular... basically the Palestinian people would bear the brunt of it,” he told the news conference in Saudi Arabia.