STORY SUMMARY
Qatar’s emir called on Tuesday for the immediate establishment of a $1 billion fund to help Palestinians in Arab east Jerusalem, and offered to contribute $250 million towards it.
Qatar’s simultaneous offer of funds for east Jerusalem came as Abbas’s Palestinian Authority was debating a draft budget amounting to $3.9 billion, of which it said $1.4 billion would have to come from foreign financing.
Prime minister Salam Fayyad lamented a lack of payment of foreign aid as he presented the 2013 draft budget to politicians and economists in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, on Monday.
On Friday, following a three-day visit by US President Barack Obama to Jerusalem and Ramallah, a top official in Washington said the US had unblocked almost $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority that had been frozen by Congress for months.
Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (front) attends the opening of the Arab League summit in Doha March 26, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Mar-26/211512-qatar-urges-1-bn-fund-for-palestinians-in-east-jerusalem.ashx#ixzz2OfaBOIUE
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Israel, Palestine, United Arab Emirates