Azzam Al Ahmad, the Deputy Palestinian Prime Minister, on Tuesday described European positions on the Palestinian government of national unity as 'mixed'. He stressed that the government and the presidency is making an effort to compel the international community to deal with the government as a whole.
Al-Ahmed stated to PNN "Palestine is witnessing active political movement, in addition to the visits by Minister of Finance Salam Fayyad to Brussels on invitation of the European Union. All of this comes to formulate a unified European position on the national unity government."
The Deputy Prime Minister added that the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' European tour, which will include six European countries, is aimed at convincing European countries hesitant in dealing with the government that the government and the Mecca agreement provides all the required conditions for the lifting of the economic embargo imposed on the Palestinian people.
The US-led economic embargo was imposed on the Palestinians after Hamas won a land-slide victory in the legislative elections in 2006. On taking on the Jerusalem file as instructed by the Council of Ministers, Al Ahmed said "this file is not new, Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine, and there is a general consensus among Palestinians that there is a need to stimulate interest in Jerusalem in all fields, and to support the steadfastness of the city of Jerusalem and to oppose the Israeli schemes which seek to isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.
Concerning the decision of Nasir al-Din Al Sha'er, the Palestinian Minister of Education, to support teachers in Jerusalem and increase financial support for them from 500 NIS to 1000 NIS, Al Ahmed said, "All these things are part of the Palestinian National Authority and its various ministerial priorities to foil the Israeli scheme. This scheme intends to surround Jerusalem and annex it, forcing its Palestinian population to leave the city by imposing upon them heavy taxes, the demolition of houses, confiscation of land and a higher living cost than other West Bank areas.
