By Xinhua
Brussels : The Dutch government has pledged an extra 10 million euros (14.4 million U.S. dollars) in aid to the Palestinian territories, Dutch news agency NIS reported Wednesday.
The assistance, which was announced by the Netherlands at the international donor conference for the Palestinian territories in Paris, is on top of the 35 million euros (50.4 million dollars) a year that the Netherlands is offering the territories via development cooperation.
“In Annapolis, Israeli Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert and Palestinian President (Mahmoud) Abbas gave an important handshake,” Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen was quoted as saying.
“The Netherlands must be generous to help the Middle East peace process,” he said.
However, Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders said aid alone is not enough.
The number of checkpoints on the West Bank should be reduced and the borders with Gaza should be opened more often to facilitate the economic reconstruction there, he added.
International donors on Monday pledged a 7.4-billion-dollar aid package to support Palestine in the coming three years in an effort to drive the newly-relaunched Middle East peace process.