"Concern is mounting in the international aid community that policies aimed at isolating the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Hamas movement have backfired by further impoverishing the people of Gaza and the West Bank without seriously undermining the Islamists. The British charity Oxfam joins the debate on Wednesday with an appeal for Europe to scrap an emergency aid programme that bypasses Hamas and revert to direct funding of the PA government that it controls. ‘The way that European aid is currently being delivered is undermining Palestinian basic services and damaging a highly fragile economy,’ said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s director."

Click here to read article