[lbo-talk] Wolfie the World Bank chief backs Palestine aid

[Bryan Atinsky]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18006222%255E23109,00.html

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.