Meeting Arafat in Ramallah, UN development official pledges aid to Palestinians

Meeting with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah today, a senior official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pledged the agency's continued support for the Palestinian Authority.

Tim Rothermel, Special Representative of the UNDP Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian people, was the first UN official to meet with Chairman Arafat in his Ramallah compound since the end of the Palestinian leader's confinement.

According to a UN spokesman, Mr. Rothermel informed President Arafat that the agency has spent $1.9 million over the last three weeks on emergency aid for the Palestinian territory. The UNDP official also offered help in repairing the Ramallah compound and pledged support for the rebuilding of Palestinian institutions.

Since its inception in 1978, the UNDP Programme of Assistance has provided some $400 million in development aid in the Middle East to help the Palestinian people.