Region | Palestinian Territories

Palestinian donors meeting raises $500m

International donors pledged $500 million (Dh1,840 million) in aid for the Palestinian Territories yesterday and called on Israel to give humanitarian agencies better access to the region.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 23:34 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

Stockholm: International donors pledged $500 million (Dh1,840 million) in aid for the Palestinian Territories yesterday and called on Israel to give humanitarian agencies better access to the region.

Sweden organised the meeting with Norway and Spain to raise $170 million for a United Nations appeal and to draw attention to hardships in the Palestinian territories that have increased since the Hamas group came to power after January polls.

Only $55 million of the $500 million was earmarked for the UN appeal.

"We are very impressed by the generosity (of donors)," Mohammad Mustafa, economic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told a news briefing after the conference in Stockholm.

A separate gathering on aid to Lebanon held in Stockholm on Thursday raised $940 million, nearly double expectations.

Kevin Kennedy, United Nations coordinator for humanitarian and development activities in the Palestinian Territories, was not disappointed by the shortfall in pledges to the UN appeal.

Conditions in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli occupied West Bank have worsened due to a Western aid boycott.

The boycott has left the Palestinian National Authority on the brink of financial collapse and many state workers unpaid.

A statement issued at the end of the Stockholm meeting noted that 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza lived in harsh conditions due to persistent Israeli-Palestinian violence, lack of salaries for civil servants, high unemployment and reduced water and power.

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