Total aid from donors for Palestinians increases to $7.6 billion

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Total donations from a Paris aid conference for the Palestinians last month have increased to at least $7.6 billion (€5.17 billion) after countries fine-tuned their contributions, officials said Thursday. Overall international pledges from the Dec. 17 conference - which originally totaled $7.4 billion (€5 billion) - have risen to $7.6 billion, a French Foreign Ministry official said. The Palestinian Authority minister of planning, Samir Abdullah, put the figure at $7.7 billion (€5.2 billion). The French official said he could not immediately explain the discrepancy, but both he and Abdullah said donors had clarified their pledges in recent weeks, and that the final figure could still change.