A
couple of weeks ago:
The European Commission decided, on 5 October, to provide an additional financial package worth €61.4 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories under the 2010 budget. Some €41.4 million will go towards helping the Palestinian Authority meet its salary obligations for teachers, doctors and nurses in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
But apparently some of that €41.4 million is
going elsewhere:
The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Dr Salam Fayyad, and the European Union Representative, Christian Berger, on Wednesday, signed a €41.4 million (Dh152.05 million) financing agreement, which will help to cover the expenses of the Palestinian Authority until the end of 2010.
These funds will cover the Palestinian Authority's salaries and pensions through PEGASE, the European mechanism for support of the Palestinians.
The €41.4 million financing package will contribute to the payment of civil servants' salaries and pensions, both in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank, for November and December 2010.
Maybe to Europeans, pensions are considered so basic as to be the same as salaries, but doesn't it seem a little strange that a cash-strapped pseudo-government like the PA is paying people who contribute nothing towards building a state?
