MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: Fayyad puts Palestinian donor meeting in doubt

[ForestsBeatBushes]

A crucial conference of international donors to the Palestinian Authority, due later this month, was thrown into doubt yesterday after Salam Fayyad, the PA's widely respected finance minister, said he would not participate in the present caretaker government.

<snip>

Formation of the cabinet has been delayed for more than a month by a struggle between Mr Qurei and Yassir Arafat, Palestinian Authority president, over control of security forces.

<snip>

Although Mr Fayyad did not rule out resuming his post once a full cabinet was formed, diplomats and aid officials said that even his temporary absence would be a blow to efforts to retain the PA's credibility with its largest donors.

<snip>

Donors including Arab states, Canada, Norway and Japan were due to participate in the conference.


http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=031107000830&query=palestinian&vsc_appId=quickSearch&offset=0&resultsToShow=10&vsc_subjectConcept=&vsc_companyConcept=&state=More&vsc_publicationGroups=TOPWFT&searchCat=-1