Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar Saturday urged Arab states to honor and immediately carry out their financial pledges to the cash-strapped Hamas-led government.
Zahar, who held talks in Cairo Saturday with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa, told the 22 Arab representatives that the US and Israel were trying to decapitate the Palestinian people economically and financially. "If you don't help us, who will help ?" Zahar asked.
Arab leaders meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum last month pledged to transfer more than US$50 million to the PA per month. However, only Algeria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have so far paid their contributions.
Earlier, Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdul Razaq accused the United States of waging an open economic war on the Palestinian government. He told reporters in Ramallah that Israel and the US wanted to use economic blackmail in order to force Palestinians to give up their rights.
