After intense pressure from NGOs, Christian agencies, churches and Muslim organizations, Middle East mediators have agreed a plan which will channel aid to the stricken Palestinians, though not through the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

After intense pressure from NGOs, Christian agencies, churches and Muslim organizations, Middle East mediators have agreed a plan which will channel aid to the stricken Palestinians, though not through the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

The European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the US said they would set up a “temporary international mechanism” to ensure the flow of aid for a three month trial period.

But critics are likely to argue that a longer-term resolution is needed. And Orthodox and Catholic church leaders on the West Bank yesterday renewed a call for an end to the Israeli siege against Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority has faced a financial crisis since aid was frozen after Hamas won elections in February. The US and EU have demanded Hamas recognises Israel and rejects violence.

But churches and development groups claim that wholly bypassing a democratically elected body is likely to alienate public opinion and encourage the growth of extremism. It also undermines effective governance, they say.

At a news conference on 10 May 2006, the members of the Middle East Quartet did not specify how much or what kind of aid the Palestinians would receive under the temporary arrangement.

According to the BBC, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the mediators had agreed to help the Palestinians through “a temporary international mechanism – limited in duration and scope – and fully accountable”.

The United States originally opposed the plan, but has now backed it and says that it will give 10 million US dollars through children’s and medical charities.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the agreement showed that the international community “is still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people” – and she called on Israel to respond as well.

However there are concerns within the European Union and among NGOs that the interim arrangement still disables effective administration in the territory – without which, services will continue to collapse.

The Palestinian Authority employs some 165,000 people and the UN estimates a quarter of the Palestinian population relies on government salaries. Many have not been paid for the past two months.

The World Bank and the United Nations have warned that the failure to pay the workers could trigger a humanitarian and security crisis.

Meanwhile Palestinian Christians yesterday appealed to the international community to persuade the Israeli government to lift the economic and military siege on Palestine.

Speaking at a conference in Nablus, Archmandrite Attallah Hanna, the official spokesperson of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, said: “This is a collective punishment, and an unjustified isolation. The siege and the blocking of international aid is illegal and contradicts international agreements and human morality.”

Fr Yousef Sa’ada of the Greek Catholic Church in Nablus announced that he is preparing a pastoral letter about the situation, entitled “Conscious of the Church”, for global distribution.

Sa’ada also accused Israeli soldiers and extremists of attacking churches and monasteries in the area over the past four years.