Germany: We cannot allow financial collapse of Palestinian Authority

BERLIN

Germany's development minister on Tuesday reaffirmed Berlin's commitment to providing emergency financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to maintain essential public services

Speaking to reporters in New York, where she attended high-level meetings on Palestine, Reem Alabali-Radovan said the Palestinian Authority faces a financially insecure situation because Israel is withholding the authority's tax revenues.

"The Palestinian Authority is on the verge of financial collapse. The consequences of this would be devastating, and we agree on that. We simply cannot allow this to happen, and we want to help prevent it from reaching this point," she told reporters.

The Social Democrat warned that a failure of the Palestinian Authority could strengthen extremist groups and undermine prospects for a peaceful diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asked about reports that her proposed €30 million ($35.4 million) financial aid package for the Palestinian Authority had been blocked by the Christian Social Union (CSU), the coalition government's junior partner, Alabali-Radovan said discussions are still ongoing.

"We are in discussions within the federal government about emergency aid for the Palestinian Authority, but also with the parliamentary groups and the German parliament about the technical details," she said, referring to an aid package intended to sustain essential health services and education.

"We are in discussions, but we agree within the federal government that the Palestinian Authority must not collapse, and we would like to see how we can support in this situation," Alabali-Radovan added.