Flooding Palestine with aid money is all well and good, but where exactly will the money go? How can it be assured the money will irrigate even the most destitute of communities?

The answers to these questions remain unclear. While key donor the U.S. blatantly favours Israel, the final destination of funds may remain under suspicion.

Palestinian PM, Salam Fayyad, is seeking $5.6bn from foreign sources to initiate a three-year plan to rebuild and develop deteriorating Palestinian institutions, including security forces.

The European Union is currently offering support for basic services in the Palestinian territories under the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) program which was established in June 2006.

In March 2008 the EU plans to replace TIM with an ammended operation designed to avoid endorsing Hamas, a ‘terrorist’ organization by EU definition, post-election victory. Hamas representatives were not invited to the recent aid meeting in Paris, leading members to label the initiative as a ‘dangerous conspiracy’.

Former British PM, Tony Blair, now a member of the ‘Quartet’, has also taken an interest in Palestinian aid, namely announcing a sewerage plan in Gaza, currently under Hamas jurisdiction, that is expected to effect 1.5 million people.

Charity organisation Oxfam remains pessimistic that donations are being poured ‘into a leaking bucket,’ on the grounds that existing aid is already seriously hampered by Israeli restrictions on movement.

Nevertheless, Blair commented at a meeting in Jerusalem in November,

‘it is a strong beginning for what is a critical part of this process because without hope of prosperity and a rise in living standards and giving people an economic stake in the future ... then the politics will never succeed.’

The donations are not expected to be a one-off payment. Fayyad has numerous short-term expenses and government salaries. U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice described the Palestinian economy as in ’serious budgetary crisis. This conference (Paris Palestinian Aid) is literally the government’s last hope to avoid bankruptcy’.

The Age: Global donors pledge $7.4 bln dlrs for Palestinians
Aljazeera: Where will Palestinian aid go?
The Epoch Times: Blair unveils project to aid Palestinian economy