The United States will soon give the Palestinian Authority a record $150 million in budgetary funding.
P.A. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose government has been struggling to prove it can perform better than the rival Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, announced the funding Wednesday from the Bush administration.
The payout will be part of $550 million pledged by the United States at a donors conference in December, when the Palestinian Authority was assured it would receive a total of $7.4 billion from countries around the world.
Fayyad told reporters the upcoming cash transfer will be the biggest since the Palestinian Authority was formed following the Oslo interim peace accords with Israel in 1993.
U.S. Consul-General Jake Wallace, who appeared with Fayyad, said the Bush administration remains dedicated to helping the Palestinian Authority move toward statehood.
Fayyad is responsible for overhauling the Palestinian .Authority’s budgetary practices while Israel and Western powers try to sideline Hamas through an economic embargo on Gaza.
