Credit: audiovisual.ec.europa.eu /    Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC, participates in the the annual spring meeting of the international donor coordination group in support of the Palestinian economy Brussels Apr. 30, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The European Union announced this week will be providing €22 million (US $24.7 million)  of additional humanitarian assistance in support of the most vulnerable people in Gaza and the West Bank.  The aid will focus on emergency preparedness and response, health, food security and protection activities for the most vulnerable, and be implemented through the United Nations and international partners, according to the EU.  The  assistance comes from the overall 2019 budget in support to the Palestinians. The EU stated that significant funds have already been disbursed this year,  including a contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Last year the overall EU aid to Palestine and Palestinian refugees amounted to more than €370 million.  In January 2019, the EU block assured President Mahmoud Abbas it supported his ambition to have East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state, clearly rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.  The announcement was made to coincide with the annual spring meeting of the international donor coordination group in support of the Palestinian economy, the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), hosted by the European Union in Brussels this week.  Since 1993, the AHLC has served as a key policy-level coordination mechanism for financial assistance to the Palestinian people, with a purpose of preserving the vision of a negotiated two-state solution, according to the  EU.

“We gathered here today in Brussels for the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee – thanks also to the tireless work of Norway – not only to renew our continued support to the Palestinians, but also to uphold the perspective of a two-state solution. Our economic assistance to the Palestinians cannot be separated from this political objective. We want to preserve the space for new negotiations because we want peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”

-EU High Representative/Vice-President, Federica Mogherini.

European Union Firmly Committed To The Two-State Solution with Jerusalem as Shared Capital For Israel, Palestine 

“.. we believe there is a solution to this conflict, and it is the two-state solution.”

EU High Representative/Vice-President, Federica Mogherini.

"There is a solution to this conflict and it is the two-state solution" @FedericaMog speaks to the media after the annual spring meeting of the international donor group for Palestine #AHLC https://t.co/1X8cON4X3J pic.twitter.com/ccsOeUqk6N

— European External Action Service – EEAS 🇪🇺 (@eu_eeas) April 30, 2019

Credit: ec.europa.eu /  GAZA,  WEST BANK  Region in Middle East.

The 52 year-long crisis in Palestine has caused a deteriorating humanitarian situation, with communities in the West Bank suffering from a host of problems. In Gaza, recurrent clashes, the land, air and sea blockade, three wars in the last eleven years, and, to an extent, the internal divides, have resulted in a continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation, with damaged infrastructure, crippling unemployment, access restrictions, and a collapse of healthcare and other critical services.

SOURCE: EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS

More than two million Palestinians, out of 4.95 million, are in need of humanitarian assistance. In Gaza, the blockade and recurrent clashes have led to a continuous erosion of economic development, leaving 1.6 million people (around 80 percent of Gaza’s total population) in permanent need of humanitarian assistance.