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Temporary International Mechanism
makes fourth payment from European funds to over 70,000
public service providers and pensioners.
The Temporary International Mechanism, established at
the end of June at the initiative of Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, has started paying a fourth social
allowance to over 70,000 Palestinian public sector
employees and pensioners with low income. This will
alleviate the impact of the current crisis on ordinary
people that have witnessed a steep decline in their
purchasing power. Beneficiaries of allowances have not
been paid regularly by the Palestinian Authority since
February 2006. Each eligible beneficiary with a basic
revenue below NIS 2,500 (€450) will receive an allowance
of NIS 1,500 (€270) directly in his/her bank account.
The total cost of the operation amounts to €20 million
(over NIS 110 million). This payment is made from
contributions to from Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland,
Luxemburg, Malta, Norway, the United Kingdom, and from
the European Commission.
With an average household size of 6 persons, around
420,000 persons benefit directly from this assistance
through the Temporary International Mechanism.
Since June of this year about €88.0 million were paid to
71,000 public sector employees and pensioners with low
income. Furthermore in September and December, over
€23.7 million were paid to 73,000 Social Hardship Cases.
In total €112 million has been paid in social allowances
to needy Palestinians.
Since June the Temporary International Mechanism has
made over 400,000 payments of social allowances to
144,000 beneficiaries. Given an average family size of
six persons, 864,000 people benefited from this support.
Moreover, the TIM has also provided support to maintain
the provision of essential services in the Gaza Strip,
namely through fuel deliveries for hospitals and clinics
as well as for water and waste water infrastructure.
More than 3.6 million litres of fuel were provided for
this task. As the Gaza Power Plant became partially
operational again in November, another 7 million litres
were provided to the Plant in just over 3 weeks.
EU foreign ministers endorsed an extension of 3 months
of the Temporary International Mechanism at their
meeting held 11 December.
In 2006, the European Union and its Member States
disbursed and committed €651 million to the
Palestinians, implemented through different
organisations. This marks an increase of 27 percent
compared to 2005. |