Dahlan fans call on Abbas to accept Gulf states' aid
Former Fatah senior Mohammed Dahlan was not present at the Bahrain conference, but his fingerprints were all over it from his efforts to gather financial aid for the Palestinian Authority.
Two days prior to the June 25 US-led summit in Bahrain, finance ministers of the Arab League convened in Cairo at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to rescue the PA from collapse. The June 23 discussions produced a decision to provide the PA with $100 million in monthly economic aid, some of it as grants and some as loans.
Abbas’ appeal to the Arab League was likely intended to deflect some of the criticism directed at him within the PA for rushing to boycott the US economic plan presented in Bahrain, even though it would be wealthy Persian Gulf emirates offering most of the money and the aid would be provided through an international investment fund.
