Palestine* and the EIB

* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue.

The EIB has worked with Palestine since 1995. The Bank operates in Palestine in line with the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and other EU bilateral agreements.

We have invested over €600 million to finance energy, water and transport projects, as well as to support small businesses and the banking sector. For example, our technical advice is supporting the Palestinian Water Authority’s project preparation efforts for the Gaza Central Desalination Plant, which will provide drinking water to more than 2 million people in Gaza.

Palestine also benefits from EIB support through the Economic Resilience Initiative (ERI). Under the ERI, we recently signed an $18 million loan agreement with the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) to finance the installation of rooftop photovoltaic systems on 500 public schools in the West Bank. This will generate 35 MW of clean energy – enough to power more than 16 000 houses across the West Bank and save 31 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.