E.U. PLEDGES $130 MILLION TO HAMAS/PALESTINIANS

E.U. to aid P.A. (JTA)
The European Union pledged to provide the Palestinian Authority with about $130 million over three months. Javier Solana, the E.U.’s foreign policy chief, announced Wednesday that international donor funds would begin flowing to cash-starved Palestinian hospitals as early as Aug. 1, but most details of the package have yet to be worked out.

The cash is intended to ease the Palestinian Authority’s dire financial crisis without dealing directly with the P.A.’s Hamas leadership. The West generally has avoided funding the Palestinian Authority since the terrorist group took over the reins earlier this year. Solana was visiting Gaza as part of a Middle East tour to find a way out of the current crisis.