The European Union has announced a new funding package of 42.5 million euros (nearly $53m) to help the Palestinians build their new state.
The announcement on Wednesday came as Brussels urged the US to not go it alone in any effort to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The EU warned that doing so would end in failure.
“Any framework for negotiations must be multilateral and must involve all players – all partners – that are essential to this process. A process without one or the other would simply not work, would simply not be realistic,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.
? Watch the full Q&A following @FedericaMog's press statement on the extraordinary meeting of the International Donor Group for Palestine #AHLC ▶️ https://t.co/wXVBEeMHTM
— EU External Action (@eu_eeas) January 31, 2018
“Nothing without the United States, nothing with the United States alone,” Mogherini told reporters in Brussels.
Her comments came at an emergency meeting of an international committee coordinating Palestinian development aid. Government ministers from Israel and Egypt, as well as the Palestinian prime minister and a US senior official, attended the talks.
The meeting was the first of its kind since US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, breaking with an international consensus that the holy city’s status should be resolved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
EU adopts €42.50 mln donation for Palestine following US aid cut pic.twitter.com/NBsRF2sQxI
— Ruptly (@Ruptly) February 2, 2018
Mogherini said, “this is a difficult moment” for the region. She also said that Wednesday’s meeting would focus on ways to promote a two-state solution to the conflict and expressed hope that it “could be an element of facilitation for restoring some trust and a level of confidence”.
(Aljazeera, PC, Social Media)
