EU meeting: Financial crisis hampers Palestinian state-building

The global economic slowdown has created a $1 billion hole in the budget of the Palestinian Authority (PA), setting back the prospect of a two-state solution, aid donors said after a meeting in the EU capital on Wednesday (21 March).

The event - a regular Spring meeting of the so-called Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee on Palestine - in its concluding document used forceful language to describe the problem.

It said the PA in early 2012 "experienced a severe fiscal crisis, which threatens...