I'm OK, Euro-K

It really did look impressive for a while there when Haaretz reported that the EU was going to suspend payments to the Palestinian Arabs:

The European Union has suspended 35 million euros ($42 million) in aid to the Palestinians, citing their lack of budgetary discipline, the EU's commissioner for external relations said on Tuesday.

The rare sanction underscored intensified foreign donor scrutiny on the Palestinian Authority since Israel quit the Gaza Strip last year after 38 years of occupation. The impoverished territory is widely seen as a testing ground for statehood.

"We have a long-term commitment with the Palestinian people that we would like to improve their living conditions (but) we are not only pumping money into the Palestinians without asking for very clear benchmarks," she [EU commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner] said.

It seemed like a move the likes of which we haven't seen since Bolton got the UN Security Council to condemn Hizbullah.

But it might be that the EU hasn't learned a thing and still has money to burn. The Financial Times reports:

The European Union is preparing itself for the possibility of doing business with Hamas after this month’s Palestinian elections, even though the group is on the EU’s list of banned terrorist organisations.

On a visit to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank this week, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations, emphasised the EU would not take sides in the January 25 vote, in which Hamas is mounting a strong challenge to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

The EU is unlikely to cut funding automatically if Hamas emerges as part of the Palestinian government after the elections, an outcome many observers consider possible. “We have been a consistent, and reliable partner for both sides [in the Israel-Palestinian conflict],” she said. “We will continue to offer our support to all those who seek peace by peaceful means.”[Emphasis added]

How does that translate into concrete terms? The EU has provided hundreds of millions of dolllars to the PA during both Abbas' and Arafat's tenure--money that at best was wasted. Caroline Glick provides a typical example from Arafat's time:

The Palestinian Mortgage Housing Corporation was involved in scandal in 1998, when the EU discovered that $20 million it had donated for the construction of low-cost housing in Gaza had been used instead to build luxury apartments
for wealthy supporters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

But Arafat could always count on the EU. Glick continues (writing in 2002):

The single largest contributor to Arafat's PA since its inception is the EU. Still today, as the evidence has become overwhelming that the PA is a terrorist entity from head
to toe, the EU insists on continuing its financial support. Just last month the EU announced it was donating another 340 million euros to the PA. This week, the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee, the body responsible for coordinating aid to the PA is meeting in Oslo to put together a new financing package.

While shoveling in money for the Palestinian infrastructure, what does the EU do for Israel? CAMERA reported during 2002 that

The EU reportedly provides much of Beilin's personal funding. According to an investigative report by Yoav Yitzchaki published in the Feb. 8, 2002 edition of the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, Beilin's salary is largely provided by the European Union (EU), as are his travel expenses. Beilin draws an annual salary of 350,000-400,000 NIS ( $80,000-$90,000) from the EU-funded Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF) which he established.

Currently, we hear all about the money the EU provides to the Palestinian Arabs. How often do we hear about the wonderful work the EU is doing with the money it provides Israel? Is it because the money does not go towards Israel itself and infrastructure but to individuals?

Glick notes that besides Beilin

In addition, it [the EU] funds organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights, which recently participated in organizing delegations of foreign activists who were brought here to stand in front of IDF tanks and attempt to force their way through IDF roadblocks.

The Jerusalem Post reported in 2001, when the destination of EU donations to Israel came to light:

European Union officials have defended the support they provide to Israeli leftist organizations, including Peace Now, the Four Mothers, and MK Roman Bronfman's Impact project.

MKs on the right have criticized Europe's intervention in Israeli politics following an investigation by Ma'ariv journalist Yoav Yitzhak that revealed that the European Union provides hundreds of thousands of euros a year to Israeli non-profit organizations affiliated with the Left.

"The European Union has always held a policy of supporting non-governmental organizations that work for peace, democracy, and human rights in the civil societies around the Mediterranean," an EU official told The Jerusalem Post. "The Israeli government is fully aware of this funding and has never complained about it. The EU has never provided financial support for political parties," he stressed.

..."We don't look at the political complexion of the people who apply to us," the official said. "We look at the project and if it meets our criteria, it is a candidate for our support." However, he said, "We don't support projects under the EU People to People program that do not support the peace process." [emphasis added]

Flash back to the present. If the EU does not support programs "that do not support the peace process," how does it justify doing business with Hamas? No problem, according to the Financial Times article:

However, some EU officials talked to Hamas members through informal and hence deniable channels in the past and were always unhappy about the decision to put the group on the terrorist list, a move championed by Israel and the US. EU foreign ministers have consistently refused to take a similar step for Hizbollah, the Islamist Shia organisation that forms part of the Lebanese government.

Their worry is that heavy handed actions by the EU could prove counterproductive, pushing Hamas further from the political mainstream – a conclusion endorsed on Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, a think-tank in Brussels.

“With the prospect as remote as ever of a renewed peace process or a weakened Palestinian Authority cracking down on a strengthened Hamas, the international community’s best remaining option is to maximise the Islamist movement’s incentives to move in a political direction through a policy of gradual, conditional engagement,” the report says. [Emphasis added]

Not a "peaceful direction" mind you, but a political one. And once Hamas becomes a major political partner, the whitewash will begin. Soon the EU will be able to brag that they fund programs by both Peace Now and Hamas.

Nothing seems to have changed after all these years. The EU apparently still has money to burn and doesn't care who gets hurt in the conflagration.

Crossposted at Israpundit

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