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EU Observer (4 December 2023)

By MARTIN KONECNY

In the face of horrendous Israeli-Palestinian violence, European leaders have revived calls for a two-state solution to stop the cycle of bloodshed. Yet at the same time, the European Union is about to throw money on Israel's regional strategy aiming to do the opposite: circumvent the Palestinian issue and avoid a territorial compromise.

Initiated by the Hungarian EU commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commission on Tuesday (28 November) approved an €18m funding plan entitled "Regional EU-Israel cooperation in support of the Abraham Accords, and fight against antisemitism and fostering Jewish life".

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, expedited in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stand out in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians under the same commissioner.

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