Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Mustafa and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas (R). [GETTY]
The European Union and its member states have long presented themselves as supporters of the Palestinian people, mainly through their backing of the Palestinian Authority (PA). But is this actually ‘solidarity’ with Palestinian aspirations, or a tool to perpetuate the Israeli occupation?
In reality, the consistent support that the EU has given the PA is more of a token gesture, rather than a true effort toward Palestinian liberation and justice. Rather than challenging and confronting the Israeli occupation and its complicity through sanctions, the EU’s support has become a tool for managing it.
In 1980, the EU’s position on Palestine was officially formed in the Venice declaration. That declaration articulated the “two-state” logic by recognising Israel’s “right to exist” along with other vague statements around “justice for all the people” and Palestinian rights to self-determination and right to return.
In the 1990s, during the negotiations leading to the Oslo Accords, the EU solidified its position. It viewed this period as a key opportunity to position itself as a champion of Palestinian statehood, invoking “international law and the principles of Oslo.” However, at its core, the EU understood the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA), established as a temporary administrative body under Israeli occupation, as a mechanism to ensure the continuity of the Zionist project, with little or almost no regard for Palestinian rights.
Former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami described the role of the Palestinian Authority following Oslo as “Israel’s collaborator”, tasked with oppressing any political or social uprisings against the Israeli occupation and reducing the Palestinian struggle to economic reforms and security issues.
In 1997, the EU signed the Interim Association Agreement on Trade and Cooperation with the PA. This agreement has served as the legal basis of the EU-PA relations. Since then, the EU started offering up to €300 million a year to the PA, focused on projects related to economic development and infrastructure – a code for PA stability amidst Israel’s occupation.
Doubling down
Under Ursula von der Leyen’s leadership, the European Commission has understood that the Zionist project, realised through the state of Israel, faces existential threats.
As European public opinion and civil mobilisation grow increasingly critical of the EU–Israel strategic alliance, Brussels has doubled down on sustaining that project by further instrumentalizing the Palestinian Authority (PA). It has increasingly presented the PA as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
Almost two months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, in late November 2023, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell argued that a Palestinian state offers Israel’s best security guarantee, linking it to the stability of the PA. December 2023 saw €118 million provided for PA stability; July 2024 brought €400 million in emergency grants and loans tied to governance reforms, anti-corruption, and education.
On April 14, 2025, the EU hosted its first high-level dialogue with the PA in Luxembourg, proposing a €1.6 billion 2025-27 program – €620 million as direct PA budget support – for recovery and resilience. June 2025 added over €150 million, channelled via mechanisms like PEGASE for salaries and fiscal gaps. In 2025 alone, the PA has received €172 million in financial assistance from the EU.
In doing so, the EU seeks to mislead millions of Europeans who have taken to the streets demanding an end to EU-Israel relations. It attempts to convince audiences that the EU’s support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) equates to backing the Palestinian struggle.
In reality, the PA has long lost its legal and moral legitimacy. Its president has remained in power since 2005 without elections, and the institution is widely seen by Palestinians as a symbol of corruption, nepotism, clientelism, and the repression of dissent.
A staggering 87% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that the PA is corrupt.
To sympathetic observers abroad, it may appear as a government-in-waiting, steadily building the institutions of a future state. But on the ground, and for the majority of Palestinians, it is widely perceived as an elite clinging to power, serving Israel’s interests (and its Western allies), and maintaining a façade of economic progress under an ever-expanding settler-colonial project that devours the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem piece by piece, day after day.
Under Israel’s control at all times
Following the US‑backed peace plan, supported by Israel and allies like the EU, which identified education reform as a central element, the PA recently introduced major changes to the national school curriculum. The revisions remove much of the national content and adjust historical and cultural narratives, softening or eliminating references to the occupation, expulsion, and injustice while promoting narratives of peace and coexistence.
Lessons that previously focused on Palestinian political prisoners have been replaced with topics on extremism and broader social issues.
As Israel deepens its de facto annexation of the West Bank, the European Union’s billions in aid, taken from European taxpayers and given to the PA, are being wasted. Stripped of any real political or sovereign authority, the PA is only a local administrator of services under Israeli military control.
The EU, including its left-leaning parties, must face an uncomfortable truth: the Palestinian Authority represents no one but itself. It wields no power on the ground and cannot gain any while Israel’s military occupation endures and corruption eats its institutions.
Equally, the EU must confront reality: the so‑called two‑state solution, long used to justify political and financial support for the PA, is no longer viable. Decades of impunity for Israel’s settler‑colonial and apartheid regime have rendered it obsolete. Moreover, allowing anyone other than Palestinians to determine their future denies them their fundamental right to self‑determination, a right that belongs to them alone.
Instead of clinging to a failed model that entrenches injustice, the EU must first end its complicity in Israel’s occupation and then support the emergence of new, accountable Palestinian leadership. Only when the occupation ends can a truly representative leadership, reflective of people’s realities and wishes, arise to lead the struggle for justice, and ultimately lasting peace.
Tamam Abusalama is a Palestinian-Belgian communications professional, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp.
Follow her on Twitter/X: @TamamBeitJirja
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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.