French assistance for the Palestinian Authority – French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs press release/Non-UN document

French assistance for the Palestinian Authority

November 28, our Consul General in Jerusalem and the Palestinian prime minister signed an agreement on budgetary aid, under which France will contribute a further €10 million to the Palestinian Authority, bringing our budgetary support for 2011 to €20 million.

The decision to grant this aid was made at the highest level of government and reflects France’s support for the reforms being carried out by the Palestinian Authority, while the latter finds itself in a particularly difficult budgetary situation. It also reflects our confidence in the action to build and reform the institutions of the future Palestinian State, as well as in the capacity of Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Salam Fayyad, to manage international assistance.

Since the Donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State hosted in Paris by France in 2007, our country will have devoted approximately €260 million to the Palestinian Territories, in the form of direct budgetary aid or funding for development projects, making it possible to improve the daily lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem (Bethlehem industrial area, water supply, support for the municipalities, renovation of the Al Quds hospital in Gaza, support for the populations and notably for the farmers in the areas fully controlled by the Israeli army, etc.).

We reaffirm the urgent need for the Palestinian Authority to have its own budgetary resources. In this respect, Israel must immediately release the funds that rightfully belong to the Palestinians, the prolonged withholding of which could threaten the financial viability of the Palestinian Authority, or even jeopardize the progress achieved to date in terms of building the future State.

Source:  Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of France (Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes (MAEE))