Tranlated by Sabrin Qadah 

The Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah "reiterated to end the Israeli occupation as an indispensable step in order to achieve economic growth, recover rights, and ensure a bright future for the Palestinian people to an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders."

This came during his speech at the United Nations Headquarters, Tuesday, in front of the private Palestine Donors Conference, which the US Secretary of State John Kerry, the European Union’s representative of foreign policy Vderica Mujrini , the Secretary- General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway Joerg Terrace , and a number of ministers and representatives of Member States in donor countries forum participated in.

Al-Hamdallah briefed the audience on the critical financial situation of the Palestinian government in the light of the sharp reduction in funding suffered since 2011, urging countries to support Palestine politically and financially, and to keep this issue at the top of their priorities.In this context, he stressed the need for the international community to take a firm stance towards Israel's policies of racial annexation and to stand side by side with the Palestinian government to meet the legitimate needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people.

He pointed out to the efforts of the Palestinian authority to increase revenue, reduce fiscal deficit, make reforms and implement development plans in several areas, including education, health, social security, electricity, energy and telecommunications, in spite of the Israeli obstacles the  Palestinian development encounters.

The prime minister also urged the international community institutions and donor countries to continue to support the budget to enable the government to carry out its responsibilities, saying: “financial support must be accompanied with strong political positions that will end the Israeli occupation as the only road towards a just and lasting peace.”

Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund presented their periodic reports to the donors' conference, which confirmed through that the Israeli occupation and its policies is a key obstacle to the improvement of the financial situation of the Palestinian government and its ability to achieve sustainable economic development.