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".