Donors to give Palestinians $770 mln this year
Palestine, Politics, 2/6/1999

International donors Friday pledged to donate $770 million this year to support Palestinian development and investment and shore up the Middle East peace process.

Since the 1993 Oslo peace accord between Palestine and Israel, the Palestinian authority received $2.5 billion in aid payments.

The Palestinian delegation submitted to the conference a new five-year development plan to build up the economy and infrastructure of the West Bank and Gaza.

Germany pledged $81 million this year for development projects.

Arafat argued, before delegates of 30 donor nations and eight international organizations, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, that speeding up aid for projects, including water and sewage systems would help peace efforts.

"It is not possible to imagine the success of our striving for peace without the two together: politics and economics," Arafat said.

Arafat said the Palestinian economy had suffered declining income, investment and employment over the past five years because of Israeli restrictions, including border closures.

The World Bank estimates the West Bank and Gaza Strip economy lost $2.8 billion due to the closures in 1994-96, double the $1.4 billion it received in donor funds in that period.

Israeli representatives walked out of the donors' meeting. to protest a map showing Arab East Al-Quds as Palestinian territory.

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