Palestinian Authority
ORG
Palestinian Authority
Emma Udwin, the spokeswoman for the European Union's executive branch, said that they were not authorizing any payments that went to the Palestinian Authority or through the Palestinian Authority. It has been warning since Hamas won Palestinian elections earlier this year that the Palestinian Authority would lose that aid unless the Hamas-led government renounced violence, recognized Israel and accept past peace agreements. Europe's direct payments, which totaled more than $200 million from 2000 to 2002, led to the establishment of a World Bank-monitored trust fund, which is now used by most international donors to disburse money to the fledgling Palestinian government in return for its willingness to meet certain standards of improved fiscal governance.