The international community has paid out nearly a billion dollars in direct aid to the Palestinians in six months, officials of the International Donors' Conference for the Palestinian State said here late Monday, while hitting out at Israeli restrictions on movement by Palestinians.
The chair and the co-chairs of the Paris conference, which last December came up with pledges of donations totalling 7.7 billion dollars over three years, "strongly welcomed" the process of disbursing the funds.
The international community has paid out more than 920 million dollars in six months in direct budgetary support and signed for one billion dollars of bilateral agreements with the Palestinian Authority for development projects, according to a communique from the chair and co-chairs released by the French foreign ministry.
"This unprecedented level and rapid disbursement of contributions demonstrates the strong support of the international community to the Palestinian government," said the statement by Quartet special Middle East envoy Tony Blair, European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and a Norwegian representative who met at the French foreign ministry.
"The priority over the coming months will be to secure contributions of Arab League members. These will be crucial to finance the budgetary gap and to support the Palestinian institutions," it went on.
The chair and co-chairs said it was "essential that the Palestinian government maintains a rigorous fiscal policy in relation with the future disposable revenues and contributions."
But "restrictions by the Government of Israel on Palestinian movement and access continue to weigh heavily on the economic outlook.
"Without a significant lifting of such barriers in the West Bank, and a relaxation of the restrictions on humanitarian and commercial flows to the Gaza Strip, there is a much-reduced prospect for private sector recovery, public and private investment programmes will continue to be delayed, and consequently any economic recovery will continue to be inhibited."
The Paris conference was aimed at boosting still fragile hopes for peace launched at the latest Palestinian-Israeli peace process in Annapolis, Maryland in late November 2007, aimed at working for a Palestinian state by the end of 2008.
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