PA needs more aid
PA to ask Arabs for more money
Palestinians to tell Arab countries they need at least 130 million dollars a month
The Palestinian Authority will tell an Arab summit it needs at least USD 130 million a month to cover its budget if the West cuts off aid when Hamas takes office, Economy Minister Mazen Sonnoqrot said.
But Algerian Minister of State Abdelaziz Belkhadem said the Arabs had not yet agreed to go above their previous commitment to give the Palestinian Authority USD 50 million a month.
"There's no increase now but we are hearing about the situation in Palestine," He told Reuters on Friday night.
Arab foreign ministers, who start a two-day meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday, will discuss a draft resolution confirming their old commitment, he added.
"We're eager to make sure that there is at least the minimum (of Arab aid) but there's no increase," Belkhadem said.
In practice many Arab governments have not met their commitments to the Palestinians and donors such as the European Union have covered most of the budget shortfall.
But since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January, the United States and Europe have started to review all their aid to the Palestinians. They call Hamas a terrorist group.
Sonnoqrot said the Palestinian Authority already faced an economic crisis and many government employees had not received their salaries for February.
"We've asked them (the Arab governments) to increase the subsidy to the Palestinian Authority, for those of them that have the means," He told Reuters on Friday night.
Salaries alone cost the Palestinian Authority USD 108 million a month, plus USD 7 million a month in welfare payments and USD 25 million a month in the running costs of government departments.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday he expected the Arab summit, which takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, to make specific commitments to help a Hamas government.
But Arab diplomats have said it is not yet clear if the Arab leaders will go beyond their old commitment.
