Morocco extends technical assistance and political backing to Palestinians, Palestinian official says

Morocco extends technical and financial assistance to the Palestinians in addition to its constant political backing to the Palestinian cause, a Palestinian official said.

"The Moroccan king, government and people have always been on the Palestinians' side," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, director of the Palestinian economic council for development and reconstruction.

"The Moroccan backing represents a lot for the Palestinians," he told MAP's bureau in Bonn, on the fringes of a donor conference held in Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt conference is attended by some 50 states and international organizations and representatives from the Palestinian National Authority.

The international donor states have approved $3.65 billion for the Palestinian Authority since 1993, of which $2.5 billion has been disbursed, according to the World Bank.

Germany is the single biggest donor state and has made available 1.2 billion marks ($714 million), in part through its EU donations, said the German Foreign Ministry.

The two-day conference is expected to agree on a framework for additional aid to the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian President Yassir Arafat was due to attend the conference Friday before travelling to Bonn for further talks with Fischer and other German leaders.

Addressing the conference, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer linked the European Union's assistance to the Palestinians to progress in the Middle East Peace process.

Meanwhile, an international conference on the future of Jerusalem will be held in Casablanca on February 23. The three-day conference will be held under the supervision of the Arab-European studies center.

Seven main topics will be debated during the conference all of concern to future of Jerusalem. The topics are on the position of Jerusalem in divine religions, Arab and Islamic ambitions towards it, legislation and international agreements and the role of investment and development projects in preserving the identity of Jerusalem.