Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, arriving in Egypt late Sunday, prepared to announce more than $900 million in aid to the Palestinians as she wades into the Middle East conflict.
Clinton will join Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, other Arab leaders and European officials today at a conference to raise money for rebuilding the war-damaged Gaza Strip. A 22-day conflict between Israel and the militant Islamic Hamas movement devastated the coastal enclave.
None of the funds will go to Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel, a State Department spokesman told reporters in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the site of the conference on Gaza. The U.S. will give $300 million for humanitarian aid in Gaza, to be delivered through the United Nations and other nonprofit groups. The remaining two-thirds of the money will go to the West Bank. Bloomberg News
