2023-10-12 21:20:55
What role should Belgium play? In particular, should it continue to help Palestine in terms of development aid?
At the MR, the position is nuanced. “We are not against the suspension of economic aid, economic cooperation and political cooperation“, explique Viviane Teitelbaum. “On the other hand, humanitarian aid must continue“, she explains. “A civilian is a civilian. If he is in danger, if he is sick, a victim of acts of war, he must be helped“, she continues, with precision: “we must be careful that this aid is not misused“.
Beyond humanitarian aid, does Belgian development aid to Palestine, which finances schools, hospitals and water purification plants, help Hamas? “This aid finances public services and infrastructure that are necessary for the Gazan population.“, replies Nabil Boukili, at the PTB, for whom this development aid must continue.
For the Committed, “it is very important that humanitarian aid and emergency aid can arrive and that we respect the Geneva conventions“, explains Georges Dallemagne. But he points out “that there is a serious problem of corruption in certain Palestinian authorities“So, Belgium should check what the aid it sends is for.”What I’m asking is that we check“, declares the Engagés deputy.
“Obviously we must prevent any misappropriation of humanitarian aid“, answers Samuel Cogolati for Ecolo. “When I hear the president of the MR calling for continuing humanitarian aid but stopping development aid, what are we talking about? We talk about schools, we talk about health points for innocent civilians“, worries Samuel Cogolati. “It is the opposite that we must do, it is to strengthen this humanitarian aid to civilians to try to build lasting peace.“, he argues.
“You should know that development aid in Palestine is one of the most verified and scrutinized aid in the world.“, reassures the PS deputy Malik Ben Achour who also takes a position against the suggestion of the MR which, he explains, “consists of saying, there is an unprecedented outbreak of violence in the Middle East and Belgium’s response will be to no longer finance schools, no longer finance hospitals, no longer finance agricultural products. It does not mean anything. This is nonsense“, declares the PS deputy.
To this, at MR, Viviane Teitelbaum responds. “Today, we have a conflict with Hamas, which has been in power since 2007 in Gaza. There is no longer any verification being done on cooperation in Gaza“, she assures. “Hamas is a terrorist organization, but we cannot assimilate all the Palestinian people to Hamas“, retorts Ecolo deputy Samuel Cogolati.
For his part, Georges Dallemagne, at Engagés, also pleads for an audit of the use made of the aid sent by Belgium.
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