World Bank chief backs Palestine aid
From correspondents in London
THE Palestinian Government should continue to receive international aid despite concerns over last week's election victory by Islamic militant group Hamas, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said in an interview today
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Wolfowitz urged Russia, the European Union, the US and the United Nations to allow the bank to continue working in the region.
The so-called Quartet of world powers has said Hamas must reject violence and recognise the right of Israel to exist or risk losing the aid.
"What we do now depends on what the Quartet asks us to do," Mr Wolfowitz told the British newspaper. "I hope they will ask us to stay."
Hamas, which won a shock victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections last week, has carried out suicide attacks in Israel and its charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Mr Wolfowitz, who arrived at the bank eight months ago from the US Pentagon with a reputation as a neoconservative ideologue, said the Hamas election win put the World Bank in a difficult position.
"We are on the horns of a dilemma," he said. "We need to keep up pressure for reform, but this interim government is not in a position to do very much right now.
"It will help the whole process if the life of the average Palestinian improves. We ought to be the last people to disengage."
The bank chairs the committee of donors for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Authority is the biggest single employer in the those areas and relies on foreign aid to stay afloat.
Last year, it received 500 million euros ($802.4 million) from the European Union and more than $US200 million ($264 million) from the US.