Xinhua
July 17, 2012 - 12:00am
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-07/17/c_123420208.htm


Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for help to overcome the fiscal crisis the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is going through.

Omer al-Ghoul, an aid to Fayyad, told Xinhua that Fayyad urged Clinton to intervention in the donor countries to fulfill their financial commitments pledged to the PNA, adding that "Clinton gave positive promises in this respect."

Fayyd held earlier on Monday a one-hour meeting with Clinton in Jerusalem over the financial crisis the PNA is suffering. No official statement had been made by either Fayyad or Clinton.

The PNA, with a budget shortage of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars, was reportedly not able to pay full salaries for June to its 150,000 employees.

According to al-Ghoul, Fayyad briefed Clinton on the Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories "that hinder any progress in the stalled peace process and threaten the U.S. principle of two-state solution."

He added that Fayyad asked Clinton to pressure on Israel to be committed to the requirements of peace, "mainly stopping the settlement activities and confiscation of lands and restricting the performance of the PNA."

Earlier on Monday, PNA spokesman Ghassan al-Khatib had stated that the meeting between Fayyad and Clinton was fully coordinated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Clinton in Paris more than one week ago.




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