US backs down and accepts UN decision to provide aid to the Palestinians

+The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers has agreed on a way to channel aid to the Palestinians for a trial period to ease a financial squeeze on the new government following the election of Hamas.




The group of international mediators - the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union, reached the agreement at the UN headquarters on Tuesday.

"The Quartet expressed its willingness to endorse a temporary international mechanism that is limited in scope and duration, operates with full transparency and accountability," it said.

The United States, which initially opposed a European proposal to channel aid to the Palestinians via an international mechanism such as the World Bank, said any such move would have to be limited in scope and mechanism so aid would not reach the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, told a news conference at the United Nations that "the thrust of the statement is that the international community is still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian people".

"It is to provide assistance to the Palestinian people so they do not suffer deprivation," she said.

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said the international mechanism to be used should begin as soon as possible and be reviewed after three months.

But the agreement seemed to underscore a concern that months of withholding aid from the Palestinians, part of an effort to press the new Hamas-led government towards a more accommodating stance with Israel, was harming the Palestinian people.

The European Union will take the lead in working out the details but has suggested in the past that the World Bank could be a suitable vehicle for getting aid to the Palestinians.

I can only assume John Bolton had a migraine and didn't turn up for the meeting. Whatever the reason, what matters most is that common sense 'appears' to have shone through. All we can do is wait and see.