Palestinians ask for $4 billion

All that R&D for Kassam rocket research and shrapnel for bombs costs a pretty penny. -EoZ

The Palestinian Authority will ask donor countries at a meeting in Oslo for about $4 billion over three years to stave off an economic crisis, Palestinian officials in Ramallah said yesterday. The two-day conference opens tomorrow.
They said the Palestinian Authority would seek the money to finance infrastructure projects including air and sea ports, to help with the 2005 budget and to create jobs.

'We need $1.3 to $1.4 billion a year,' Economy Minister Maher al-Masri said. 'We will present our plan to the donor countries and then discussions will start. They will decide how to respond to our plan in a separate meeting in January.'