Prime Highlights-
- Greece has pledged €600,000 ($671,000) to support Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority said.
- The money will go through the EU’s Pegase programme, and the Office of the European Union Representative in Jerusalem will implement the agreement.
Key Facts-
- Greek consul general Dimitrios Angelosopoulos and Palestinian finance minister Estephan Salameh signed the agreement.
- European nations provided €9.29 million in April for medical services for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Background-
Greece has pledged €600,000 ($671,000) to support Palestinian hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority said on Monday.
Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, Greece’s consul general in Jerusalem, and Estephan Salameh, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of finance and planning, signed the agreement, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The money will flow through the EU’s Pegase programme, which the European Commission set up in 2008. Through Pegase, the Palestinian Authority receives EU support to help pay public-sector salaries and fund key services such as education and healthcare. The Office of the European Union Representative in Jerusalem will carry out the agreement.
The funding adds to recent European support. In April, European nations provided €9.29 million to fund medical services for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Hospitals in the city, including Augusta Victoria Hospital and Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Hospital, offer specialised treatment to patients referred by medics in the West Bank and Gaza. These patients often come because their local facilities lack the supplies or equipment for the care they need.
The EU has reportedly provided more than €225 million since 2013 to cover the cost of such referrals, including treatment for cancer and other conditions, which places Greece’s contribution within a longer record of European backing.
The money will help these hospitals keep treating patients who depend on referrals from the West Bank and Gaza.
