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Rice proposes one billion dollar aid
package for Palestinians
(AFP)
30 June 2003
JERUSALEM - US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice has proposed a one-billion-dollar aid package for Palestinians, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Monday.
Rice, on a brief weekend visit to region, said Washington was ready to deliver “nearly one billion dollars” to ease conditions in the Palestinian territories, economically devastated after nearly three years of low-level war with Israel, Yediot reported.
Rice unveiled her proposal during a meeting Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s chief of staff Dov Weisglass and Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayad, who has been widely credited with cleaning up the shady business dealings of the Palestinian Authority, Yediot said.
Washington wants to create a network of hospitals and social institutions to build support for Palestinian premier Mahmud Abbas and erode the popularity of the Islamic Movement of Hamas, which has won adherents through its effective charity network in the Gaxa Strip.
The offer comes as Palestinian resistance groups have declared a suspension of anti-Israeli attacks and Israel has pulled its forces out of the northern Gaza Strip.
In support to the Israeli policies, the US has worked hard to stop funding to the Hamas charitable services by closing down Palestinian charities in the US, by pressuring Arab Gulf donors to stop donations to Palestinians, and recently by asking Europeans and other governments to "dry up" Hamas financial resources.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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