Palestinians get EU, Saudi aid worth 255m dlrs

(RAMALLAH) - The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority has received 255 million dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the European Union, prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Monday.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has ordered the transfer of 200 million dollars the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad told reporters at a ceremony during which the EU signed over to the Palestinians 39 million euros (55 million dollars).

Fayyad said the Saudi aid was part of a one-billion-dollar financial assistance package pledged in January by Saudi King Abdullah to help the Palestinians deal with a steep financial crisis.

"I received a call from the Saudi finance minister, Ibrahim al-Assaf, who informed me of King Abdullah's decision to order the transfer of 200 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority's treasury," Fayyad said.

The Palestinian Authority received pledges totalling some 12 billion dollars from international conferences in Paris in 2007 and Sharm el-Sheikh in March this year.

But Fayyad has repeatedly complained that international donors have been slow to hand over the promised cash due to the political deadlock in the Middle East.

During a visit to Norway in June he said that the PA needs 50 million dollars in international aid per month.

And in May the Western-backed Palestinian Authority was forced to take out bank loans worth 530 million dollars to cover its operations.

The latest EU aid brings to 207 million euros (around 293 million dollars) the total assistance received by the Palestinians from Europe since the beginning of the year.

According to Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority has received a total of 703 million dollars since the beginning of 2009 in international aid, excluding the 200 million dollars announced Monday by Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on July 24 that the United States had given 200 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority -- part of a 900-million-dollar aid package announced in March.