Middle East

Donors earmark $242 million for Palestinian security aid

Article published on the 2008-06-24 Latest update 2008-06-24 16:27 TU

Middle East security conference in Berlin June 24, 2008.
(Credit: Reuters)

International donors pledged 242 million dollars in Berlin on Tuesday towards security projects aimed at helping Palestinians achieve their own state. The money comes out of the 7.4 billion dollars already pledged by donors in Paris in December. The money will reportedly go to the Palestinian Authority over the next three years for projects such as reinforcing security by building more police stations and courthouses, as well as putting more police on a regular beat.

Donors hope that by allocating funds specifically for security measures Palestinians will invest more in rule of law and distance themselves from using violence as a means of settling issues.

"Every link in what we call the chain of security must be intact and unbreakable. To... invest in a future state the Palestinians must have confidence that their police, courts, penal system are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

This news comes as two rockets were shot from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting the courtyard of a private house in southern Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties.

An Egyptian-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel had entered its sixth day on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Islamic Jihad said its fighters had launched the rocket. "The rockets are a response to the crimes of the [Israeli] occupation in the West Bank," he said.

Their attack came a few hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and a young man in Nablus, a town located in the occupied West Bank.

The West Bank is not part of the truce.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke out strongly in favour of a Palestinian state as he left Israel on Tuesday.

"The security of Israel is a non-negotiable for France, but the creation of a viable, democratic, modern state for the Palestinians is a priority for France," he said at a press conference after meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.