Barghouthi welcomes Norway’s decision to resume Palestine aid

Friday June 01, 2007 16:32 by Staff - IMEMC News

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian Minister of Information welcomed on Friday Norway’s decision to resume direct aid to the Palestinian people.

Barghouthi, who is the spokesperson of the Palestinian government, said the resumption of direct aid to the Palestinian people will help break the embargo imposed by the United States, European Union and Israel against the Palestinian Government since March 2006.

He called upon the EU to follow the lead of Norway and resume their aid to Palestine to end the blockade.

Barghouthi added that the Palestinian government represents 96% of the Palestinians, since it is a coalition government composed of all the parliamentary blocs.

The Palestinian minister also called the European Union to pressure Israel to release the tax money due to the Palestinian people that is being held by Israel since March 2006, totaling around 850 million dollars.

The economic blockade has caused serious financial troubles in Palestine as a result of the government inability to pay the salaries of the employees on a regular basis since March 2006. Only partial payments have been given, and even those have been few and sporadic, during the past 15 months.

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