FALSE MONEY – DONOR AID AND THE SELL-OUT OF PALESTINE
Since the Oslo Accords, over $ 24 billion in international aid has gone to Palestine. The biggest donor: the EU. Twenty years on, the situation in Gaza and the West Bank is worse than ever.
Since the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995, over $ 24 billion in donor money has gone to Palestine. The EU is the largest donor: € 428 million was donated in 2013 alone. Officially, the funds are supposed to promote the creation of a democratic, independent and viable Palestinian state that can live side by side and in peace with Israel. This mantra has been endorsed in thousands of documents since then, and yet hopes for a peaceful, two-state solution are continuously dashed. 22 years on, prospects of establishing the "State of Palestine" are more and more remote and the situation in the Palestinian territories is – in many respects – worse than before Oslo. Experts now talk of "de-development" in Palestine, in other words the systematic prevention of development. How could this happen? Who are the real beneficiaries of the donations? We take a close look at several donor projects and speak with NGO representatives, politicians and bankers in Europe and the Palestinian territories. Will international and specifically EU politicians eventually change their strategy and instead of sending money work on sustainable political solutions?