Israel's newly appointed Ambassador to the EU and NATO, Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, presented his credentials to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. During his meeting with Rompuy, Hadas-Handelsman discussed Israel's efforts to attain peace and the Palestinian statehood bid at the U.N. Hadas-Handelsman was tapped for the position in August. He has previously served as the deputy director-general of the Middle East and Peace Process Division of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and has also been Israel's ambassador to Jordan. In his new role, Hadas-Handelsman will focus on strengthening connections between the European bloc nations in a variety of areas. The European Council has been angling for greater involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and Hadas-Handelsman is expected to take an active role in the organizations efforts. The European Council was included in the recent discussions on the matter at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! Last week, in an interview with the European Voice newspaper, Hadas-Handelsman said the EU should strive to do more than just try to convince the Palestinians to relinquish their current statehood bid. Hadas-Handelsman described the Palestinian efforts at the U.N. as a distraction, and urged the EU to be useful in restarting peace negations. Hadas-Handelsman added that the time and effort put in by the Palestinians at the U.N. should have been spent on resuming the negotiations, and added that it seemed the Palestinian Authority was trying to achieve the fruits of a negotiation process without the process. European financial assistance to the Palestinians dates back to 1971, when the EU made its first contribution via the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, according to the UNRWA website. The EU has since become the greatest provider of development aid to the Palestinians. From 1994 to the end of 2009, the EU committed approximately $5.8 billion in assistance to the Palestinians, and has called for the creation of a viable, independent and democratic Palestinian state living in harmony with Israel and its other neighbors.
