WB loan for Palestinians

WB loan for Palestinians

PARIS (Reuter): The World Bank has agreed to extend a US$58
million credit to Palestinian authorities to support self-rule
projects, an official at the multinational institution said
yesterday.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officials, in Brussels
for meetings with Israeli officials, the World Bank and wealthy
donors, confirmed there had been an agreement.

The World Bank official said the deal would be signed in
Brussels later yesterday by PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, also in
Brussels, said they would put pressure on the donors, who were to
begin a two-day meeting yesterday, to pay out urgently money
already promised to the Palestinians.

The donors' last meeting broke down in a row over the
Palestinians' inclusion of Jerusalem in projects to be backed.

Palestinians consider Arab East Jerusalem the capital of a
future state, but Israel says that East and West Jerusalem are
united and remain its "eternal capital".