Call for probe into UK aid to Palestinians

JOAN RYAN, the chair of Labour Friends of Israel, has called for the government to suspend UK aid to the Palestinian territories.

Ms Ryan, Labour MP for Enfield North, said the £72 million Britain sends to the Palestinian Authority should be put on hold while an independent investigation into whether it is being used to pay salaries to jailed terrorists was carried out.

Speaking during a Westminster Hall debate on foreign aid on Monday, Ms Ryan said money from the UK was going towards the payment of so-called salaries to convicted Palestinian terrorists, which “incentivise people to commit the most terrible acts of violence”.

She added: “The payments we make enable the Palestinian Authority to make their payments to prisoners.”

The MP called for aid to the region to be focused on co-existence projects strenghtening ties between Israelis and Palestinians. “At the moment I fear our aid to the PA might actually be taking us further away from that goal, which is why we urgently need an independent inquiry and a radical rethink,” she said.

Sir Desmond Swayne, minister at the Department for International Development, dismissed Ms Ryan’s suggestions that UK money funded terrorists.

He said: “Our taxpayers’ money goes to build the Palestinian Authority so it is able to morph into the government of a Palestinian state when that opportunity arises.”

Sir Eric Pickles, Conservative Friends of Israel chair, expressed concern that some NGOs working in the Palestinian territories had been promoting violence on social media.

On Wednesday, a delegation including Sir Eric and LFI’s Ian Austin MP held talks with Sir Desmond.

Following the meeting, Sir Eric said he welcomed “a shift in DfID’s funding towards peaceful co-existence projects, along with the Minister’s agreement to look at alleged abuses of British aid by particular Palestinian NGOs.

“We also registered our concerns about the Palestinian Authority’s continued payment of salaries to Palestinian terrorists and will have further conversations on this in due course. ”