EU Continues To Withhold Aid To Palestine

The continued commitment of the EU to withhold funding from Palestine until school textbooks undergo major revisions has continued to come under the microscope. Since 2021, the EU has withheld funding of about $230 million, arguing that Palestine needs to commit to revising its school literature before receiving the aid. Unsurprisingly this decision has come under extreme scrutiny from the Palestinian leadership, humanitarian groups within the region, and the general public of Palestine. The main point of contention in the literature is that antisemitism is being taught to school children.

Since the EU began withholding aid in November 2021, almost 120,000 people have not received the support they needed, and the lack of aid has put services like health care in critical condition. The delay in healthcare services has resulted in six hospitals facing a financial crisis, meaning they can either not offer their services anymore or have severe delays in providing their services. Regardless, these circumstances have caused patients suffering from an extreme range of illnesses or medical problems to face delays in treatment, or not being able to receive it at all. Thus, the EU’s commitment to changing the school curriculum to a standard which they deem more appropriate for today’s world has indirectly caused the suffering of innocent lives across Palestinian society.

The Secretary-General, Jan Egeland, of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an organization that is massively critical of the EU’s actions, said that, “these restrictions punish terminally ill patients who cannot get life-saving medicine and force children to go hungry.” Egeland adds that, “the delay because of a political position is putting lives at risk every day.” Egeland continues to “appeal to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to release the funds immediately so that critical assistance for vulnerable Palestinians and support for basic services continue.”

The main issue is whether or not the EU’s mission to, in its eyes, ‘modernize’ the literature of Palestinian schools is worth putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians at risk. The answer is no because the innocent lives of Palestinians are being put in danger over a political decision. The fact that a political difference is interfering with the agreed-upon funding means that innocent people are, and will continue to, die and suffer in Palestine. However, it is also important to note that the EU is withholding their aid because they believe what is being taught to school children may lead to a new generation of antisemitism in the region. They are not withholding funding for no reason, and in their eyes, what they are doing will be for the continued benefit of the people of Palestine as a whole. So, they want to ensure that Palestine commits to decreasing the prominence of antisemitism by stopping it at the school level. This goal is a noble one, however, they should try and find another avenue to pursue this goal that does not cost innocent people access to critical services, especially those who need it the most.

The EU should give serious consideration to reconsidering its stance of withholding aid. Although they may disagree with the literature in Palestinian schools, they should realize that their continued withholding of aid is causing the deaths of innocent civilians. A political conflict should not take precedent over the well-being of innocent civilians and despite disagreements over the way children should be educated may occur, the EU must respect their obligation to provide aid to Palestine. If they wish to continue to pursue their goal of changing the literature, they should try to find a solution which does not harm innocent people because the people in need of hospitals, food, money, or other kinds of aid that the EU agreed to provide them with are not the ones who should pay for the literature their government created.

Related