EU makes cash handouts to Palestinians for Ramadan

BRUSSELS, Sep 25 (Reuters) The European Union has begun distributing (51 million) of aid to 40,000 of the poorest Palestinian families at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the EU's executive said today.

It also called for new cash to expand an aid scheme set up by West Asia peace mediators to alleviate hardship following US and European bans on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority after the Islamist group Hamas won a January election.

''To make a difference, we will need new donors to come forward to support the temporary international mechanism,'' EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said of the scheme, devised to channel international aid to Palestinians while bypassing the Authority.

A spokeswoman said the new aid would be distributed in cash via local banks and amount to 270 euros per person. It will go to Palestinian families whose normal welfare support was cut off in February because of the Authority's cash crisis.

The Quartet of West Asian peace mediators -- the United States, the EU, the United Nations and Russia -- said last week they hoped to restore links with the national unity government that President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to establish.

But they said the boycott could end only if the government's platform reflected their demands for a rejection of violence and the recognition of Israel and past peace deals.

They also called for a three-month extension of the temporary international mechanism and an expansion of its scope.

REUTERS MQA PM1813