Economic conditions in the Gaza Strip and West Bank Jericho district are worse than they were before the areas fell under Palestinian self-rule last May, said the U.N. official monitoring the state of affairs in the Palestinian self-rule areas.
U.N. official Terje Larssen made the assessment after attending a meeting Tuesday in jericho between Palestinian officials and representatives from international donor countries.
The donor nations had pledged about $700 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority last year. But only some $250 million of those pledges has actually been handed over.
As a result, said Larssen, it is unclear whether the Palestinian Authority will be able to pay the salaries of 22,000 civil servants working in the self-rule areas.
The meeting was held in an effort to secure more financial support for the Palestinian Authority.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
