EU ministers meet with Cohen, Abbas amid split over PA aid

European Union foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday to try to resolve divisions within the 27-member bloc over whether to continue aid payments to Palestinians a day after the European Commission backtracked on an announcement suspending all such aid. Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas were invited to participate virtually.

The U-turn came after member states including Spain and France said they opposed the suspension announced by Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi on Monday.

The EU's disarray reflected longstanding divisions within the bloc over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Austria and Germany announced on Monday they were suspending their development aid to Palestinians.

A Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that Varhelyi had not consulted his fellow commissioners, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission walked his announcement back on Monday evening, saying there would be a review of aid but no suspension of payments.

EU ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Muscat, Oman, where a meeting of EU and Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers was already taking place, the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

He added on Tuesday that he had invited Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki to join the meeting.

Some countries already clear about plans

Ahead of the meeting, some countries had already set out their positions.

Spain's acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday that Madrid opposed the proposed suspension, arguing that Palestinian territories are likely to need more aid in the near future after Hamas' Saturday attack on Israel and Israel's subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

"This cooperation must continue; we cannot confuse Hamas, which is on the list of EU's terrorist groups, with the Palestinian population," Albares told Spanish radio Cadena SER.

France said on Tuesday that its aid payments to the Palestinian territories were "fully consistent" with its commitments.

"We are not in favor of suspending aid which directly benefits the Palestinian populations and made this known to the European Commission yesterday,” its foreign ministry said in a statement.

French aid to Palestinians amounted to 95 million euros ($100.7 million) in 2022, according to the statement.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said a balance needed to be struck between providing aid and cutting off the financing of terrorists.

"On the one hand we have to have humanitarian help so people can be supported to have water and things to eat, and at the same time we need to ensure nothing happens that supports structures linked to terrorism," Scholz said on Tuesday at a two-day cabinet retreat in Hamburg with French President Emmanuel Macron and his cabinet.

He added: "We are sure this it not happening, but it is essential to check every time."

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala backed a suspension.

"I am convinced that it would be right now to suspend payments and start a thorough review of the whole system of aid to Palestinians from the EU," he said in a post on X.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report