U.S. Unveils Plan to Aid Palestinians Hurt by Crackdown
Secretary of State Warren Christopher opened an anti-terrorism conference Thursday by announcing a plan to pump money and jobs into the West Bank and Gaza Strip to help Palestinians adversely affected by the Hamas terror campaign against Israel.
The plan seemed a direct response to pressure from Arab states and Palestinians and a major shift from the stated U.S. insistence on keeping the meeting focused primarily on terrorism countermeasures.
After telephone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that delayed the start of the conference, Christopher said: “We have agreed on the development of an emergency plan designed to improve the economic situation in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Christopher said the plan would include establishing an emergency jobs program in the Palestinian self-rule areas and increase trade among those areas and Israel, Jordan and Egypt.
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