Palestinian PM says authority undertaking demanded reforms
Mohammad Mustafa, the Palestinian prime minister, is attending a Palestinian donor conference in Belgium.
There are some 60 delegations present here looking at how to bolster the Palestinian Authority (PA) financially. The EU believes the PA should be in charge of a unified Gaza and West Bank in the future.
The bloc is the biggest funder of the PA, but those donations are very much based on deep and major reforms the EU says the PA must make.
Mustafa said it is making those reforms and has been trying to undertake them for a while. He added one of the biggest obstacles to the economic stability and development for the Palestinian people is the ongoing Israeli occupation and the war on Gaza.
The Palestinian prime minister also noted Israel continues to bloc funds.
He is asking the international community to do more for the Palestinians financially and economically. Mustafa said the PA is working towards a two-state solution, which he believes is the future for the Palestinian people.
What are the demanded reforms? And to what goal, Palestinians don't support the PA, elections are needed.
Palestine condemns Israeli bill to cut water, electricity to UN facilities
Palestinian authorities have condemned Israel’s Knesset for advancing a bill that would cut water and electricity to UNRWA facilities and allow the state to seize lands used by the UN agency.
In a statement carried by Wafa news agency, the refugee affairs department said the move is a blatant violation of international law, warning it aims to cripple UNRWA’s work in occupied East Jerusalem by shutting down 17 facilities serving more than 200,000 Palestinian refugees.
The legislation would give legal cover to confiscate key UNRWA sites, including its Sheikh Jarrah headquarters, as part of a wider effort to undermine the UN agency’s mandate and erase the Palestinian refugee issue, it said.
The department urged the UN to take action to ensure Israel respects UNRWA’s legal protections as stipulated by the International Court of Justice’s recent advisory opinion.
