EU to conclude vote on restarting aid to Palestinians on Monday, Shtayyeh says

The European Union (EU) is to conclude on Monday a vote on restarting financial assistance to Palestinians, according to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

The Palestinian PM told Palestine TV that 23 European foreign ministers had written the bloc a letter stating that support should recommence with no strings attached, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Shtayyeh said he hopes "the vote will come with satisfactory results regarding the aid that we have not received since 2021".

The vote began on Friday, according to Wafa.

Shtayyeh addressed the possibility of conditions being attached to the EU assistance, something previously put forward by European foreign ministers.

The Palestinian premier said: "We, under the direction of the president [Mahmoud Abbas], will not accept any conditional financial aid, and we will not make any concessions about the educational curriculum, which is part of the dignity of the Palestinian."

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to the Palestinian territories on Tuesday with a message regarding the resumption of support, Shtayyeh said.

Shtayyeh said his government won't permit any shift in Ramallah's narrative or rights, particularly concerning refugees and the right of return to their homeland, and Jerusalem's status as the Palestinian capital.

The EU in March did not send €214 million ($224 million) in annual support, which would, in part, have been used to pay public sector salaries, Israeli daily Haaretz reported at the time.

This came as a vote failed to garner enough support to either approve or throw out a Hungarian proposition linked that the assistance to the withdrawal of allegedly "antisemitic" passages from school textbooks, according to a Palestinian source.

The European Commission, which had accepted the proposition in April last year, was set to consider the issue.