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Int'l donations down due to PNA political views: Palestinian minister

Xinhua, February 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is facing a financial siege due to its political views and stances, said Prime Minister of the PNA's consensus government Ramallah Hamdallah Tuesday.

The PNA treasury received last year 685 million U.S. dollars out of the 1.2 billion dollars pledged by donor counties, according to Hamdallah.

"Decreased donations are due to the PNA's political views and positions concerning the Israeli conflict, mainly the insistence to bring the Palestinian's cause to the attention of international agencies and ending the Israeli occupation," he said.

On Jan. 5, the PNA approved its 2016 budget with 4.25 billion dollars, whilst facing a financing gap reaching 386 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the consensus government unveiled that until last August the PNA's received reached only 1.2 billion dollars out of 5.087 billion dollars pledged for construction in the Gaza Strip.

"We received only 28 percent of the total donations which are 5.087 billion dollars pledged by international and Arab donors when they convened in Cairo in Oct. 2014 for the construction plan in the Gaza Strip," said a government's statement.

In the summer of 2014, Israel waged a large-scale air and ground offensive against the Gaza Strip, lasting 50 days and causing immense damage to housing and infrastructure throughout the coastal enclave.

The statement said that 46 percent of the totally demolished homes had already been financed, whilst 54 percent of the totally demolished homes still needed further financing to be rebuilt.

The consensus government complained from the harsh conditions in the Gaza Strip, mainly the endless and severe electricity shortage, and severe damage in water and electricity services which have yet to be fixed.

"The donors' lack of commitment to transfer what they pledged to transfer during the Cairo donors conference and Israel's imposed restrictions on shipping raw materials are the major outstanding obstacles causing the slow construction," said the statement. Endit