Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Mustafa and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas (R). [GETTY]<\/p>\n
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 \u2018solidarity\u2019 with Palestinian aspirations, or a tool to perpetuate the Israeli occupation?<\/p>\n 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\u2019s support has become a tool for managing it.<\/p>\n In 1980, the EU\u2019s position on Palestine was officially formed in the Venice declaration. That declaration articulated the \u201ctwo-state\u201d logic by recognising Israel\u2019s \u201cright to exist\u201d along with other vague statements around \u201cjustice for all the people\u201d and Palestinian rights to self-determination and right to return.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cinternational law and the principles of Oslo.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami described<\/a> the role of the Palestinian Authority following Oslo as \u201cIsrael\u2019s collaborator\u201d, tasked with oppressing any political or social uprisings against the Israeli occupation and reducing the Palestinian struggle to economic reforms and security issues.<\/p>\n In 1997, the EU signed<\/a> 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 \u20ac300 million a year to the PA, focused on projects related to economic development and infrastructure – a code for PA stability amidst Israel\u2019s occupation.<\/p>\n Doubling down<\/p>\n Under Ursula von der Leyen\u2019s leadership, the European Commission has understood that the Zionist project, realised through the state of Israel, faces existential threats.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As European public opinion and civil mobilisation grow increasingly critical of the EU\u2013Israel 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.<\/p>\n Almost two months into Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, in late November 2023, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell argued<\/a> that a Palestinian state offers Israel’s best security guarantee, linking it to the stability of the PA. December 2023 saw<\/a> \u20ac118 million provided for PA stability; July 2024 brought<\/a> \u20ac400 million in emergency grants and loans tied to governance reforms, anti-corruption, and education.<\/p>\n On April 14, 2025, the EU hosted<\/a> its first high-level dialogue with the PA in Luxembourg, proposing a \u20ac1.6 billion 2025-27 program – \u20ac620 million as direct PA budget support – for recovery and resilience. June 2025 added<\/a> over \u20ac150 million, channelled via mechanisms like PEGASE for salaries and fiscal gaps. In 2025 alone, the PA has received<\/a> \u20ac172 million in financial assistance from the EU.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s support for the Palestinian Authority (PA) equates to backing the Palestinian struggle.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n A staggering 87% of Palestinians<\/a> in the West Bank and Gaza believe that the PA is corrupt.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s interests (and its Western allies), and maintaining a fa\u00e7ade of economic progress under an ever-expanding settler-colonial project that devours the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem piece by piece, day after day.<\/p>\n Under Israel\u2019s control at all times<\/p>\n Following the US\u2011backed peace plan, supported by Israel and allies like the EU, which identified education reform as a central element, the PA recently introduced<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Lessons that previously focused on Palestinian political prisoners have been replaced with topics on extremism and broader social issues.<\/p>\n As Israel deepens<\/a> its de facto annexation of the West Bank, the European Union\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s military occupation endures and corruption eats its institutions.<\/p>\n Equally, the EU must confront reality: the so\u2011called two\u2011state solution, long used to justify political and financial support for the PA, is no longer viable. Decades of impunity for Israel\u2019s settler\u2011colonial and apartheid regime have rendered it obsolete. Moreover, allowing anyone other than Palestinians to determine their future denies them their fundamental right to self\u2011determination, a right that belongs to them alone.<\/p>\n Instead of clinging to a failed model that entrenches injustice, the EU must first end its complicity in Israel\u2019s occupation and then support the emergence of new, accountable Palestinian leadership. Only when the occupation ends can a truly representative leadership, reflective of people\u2019s realities and wishes, arise to lead the struggle for justice, and ultimately lasting peace.<\/p>\n Tamam Abusalama is a Palestinian-Belgian communications professional, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp. <\/strong><\/p>\n Follow her on Twitter\/X: @TamamBeitJirja<\/strong><\/p>\n Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammad Mustafa and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas (R). 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