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Last update - 20:07 01/05/2008 Top U.S. official: America would look favorably on PA request for additional funding By Reuters Tags: Palestinian Authority  The United States would look favorably on a request from the Palestinian Authority for more funds to plug a budget shortfall, the top U.S. aid official said on Thursday. Henrietta Fore, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, is in London for a meeting on Friday of international donors who last December pledged 7.4 billion Euros to the Palestinians over three years to support efforts to find peace in the Middle East. The quartet of Middle East peace mediators -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- will also meet in London on Friday. Advertisement A report from the International Monetary Fund, released in advance of Friday's meeting, said the Palestinian Authority faced a 400 million Euro budget shortfall in the second half of the year. Asked if Washington would be amenable to a request for more money to help with the budget shortfall, Fore said: "Yes, we think that this is an important part of the world. It's important to support and back strong efforts of progress of people who are working for peaceful, prosperous solutions." At the December donors' conference in Paris, the United States pledged 555million Euros for Palestinians over the next year, including 150 million Euros in budget support. Fore said there was a problem with some countries not disbursing the funds they had promised in Paris. "It is important that we keep up with the good progress of the Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister (Salam) Fayyad's government," she told Reuters in an interview. "So no doubt we will focus (at Friday's conference) on making sure that governments and organisations that have made pledges are making good on their pledges, and in a timely fashion to be useful," she said. Fore was due to hold talks with Fayyad on Thursday to hear about the situation first hand. "From what we are seeing there has been good solid financial progress," she said. But the Palestinian Authority's needs had increased both because of the weaker dollar and because it was paying its bills more quickly, she said. "So I'd like to look at that, I'd like to see what their financial needs are and what their progress is," she said. She did not expect the United States to pledge new money on Friday however. U.S. aid finances economic development, building of infrastructure and humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories. U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza, run by the Islamist group Hamas, is channelled mainly via through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Related articles: Jihad: We won't sign cease-fire, but won't be first to violate it Condoleezza Rice returns to the Mideast on Saturday Erekat: Abbas 'doing very, very well' after heart procedure Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hamas on the Holocaust Al-Aqsa TV claims Jews concocted the Holocaust. Grasping genocide How a non-Jew in Israel came to understand the Holocaust.   1.   More money to buy... 20:30  |  Mike 01/05/08   2.   No we would not!, henrietta speak for yourself. 22:06  |  Avram 01/05/08   3.   #1 & #2 23:16  |  Cool B 01/05/08   4.   Targeted Investment 00:39  |  Nissim Dahan 02/05/08   5.   Here we go again 01:59  |  Mary 02/05/08

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