Japan will give Palestinians a $49.7 million grant to help improve infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank following the completion of Israel's withdrawal of settlers from the areas, the government said Tuesday.
The sum will be the first disbursement of the $100 million in economic aid to the Palestinians that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Tokyo in May.
The money will be used to rebuild roads, houses and other facilities in the Gaza Strip as well as building a sewage plant in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, government officials said.