<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Palestinian Authority to seek less aid in&nbsp;2011]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<div class="metadata">
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/palestinian-authority-to-seek-less-aid-in-2011-2011-02-04-1.351568"><img src='https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/1106130825.png' alt='' /></a></p>
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<p><span class="label">By</span> Reuters | <span class="label">Published</span> Friday, February 04, 2011</div>
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<p>The Palestinian Authority will ask for substantially less  foreign aid from a donor conference this year than in the past and hopes  to wean itself off budget assistance by 2013, Prime Minister Salam  Fayyad said on Friday.</p>
<p>Fayyad also said he wanted June&#8217;s donor meeting to be accompanied by  progress in the process of establishing statehood for the Palestinian  entity by the end of 2011.</p>
<p>Donor countries will meet in Paris to agree on further funds for the  authority after $7.7 billion was pledged at a first conference in 2007  to help the Palestinian budget and projects or for humanitarian aid.<br />
&#8220;In terms of the external assistance that we will expect &#8230; it will be  substantially less than what we required until 2010,&#8221; Fayyad told a  diplomatic forum in Paris.</p>
<p>The authority would ask for a similar level of development aid as it  obtained at the 2007 conference but less money from abroad to fill its  budget shortfall, he said, adding: &#8220;We hope to eliminate budget  assistance by 2013.&#8221;</p>
<p>Last September, Washington relaunched direct peace talks between  Israel and the Palestinians, only to see them grind to a halt three  weeks later when Israel&#8217;s partial freeze on building in Jewish  settlements in the occupied West Bank expired.</p>
<p>Fayyad connected the donors&#8217; conference with the political process.  &#8220;When we meet it will have to be against the backdrop of the expectation  of the imminent formation of the Palestinian state. If not we don&#8217;t  want a donor conference,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Fayyad, a former World Bank economist, said in January dependence on  foreign aid should fall to less than $1 billion in 2011, from $1.2  billion in 2010 and from a level of around $2 billion annually when he  took office in 2007.</p>
<p>Financial support from the United States, the European Union and Arab  states allows the Authority to pay around 150,000 officials, teachers  and members of its security forces.</p>
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<p>via <a href="http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/palestinian-authority-to-seek-less-aid-in-2011-2011-02-04-1.351568">Palestinian Authority to seek less aid in 2011 &#8211; Emirates24|7</a>.</p>
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