§ Mr. NellistTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East,Official Report, 20 April, columns 241–42, as to the aid over the last five years to the West Bank and Gaza Strip from (a) other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, (b) other European Economic Community countries and (c) other sources.
§ Mr. Chris PattenInformation on other donors' aid to the West Bank and Gaza is scarce. Our understanding is that France, Germany, Italy and Spain have programmes broadly comparable with that of the United Kingdom; that the United States of America provides substantially more; and that some other western donors maintain small programmes.
Outside the OECD and the European Community the eastern bloc and Arab donors provide some assistance, the former mainly through training awards. Among Arab donors Jordan was particularly active in the occupied territories until last year.
Among multilateral donors the European Community provided the equivalent of £5 million from 1981 to 1986 and some £2 million in each of 1987 and 1988. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees provided US$174.5 million in 1986, US$208.8 million in 1987 and US$216.4 million in 1988; these figures also include expenditure in Lebanon and refugee camps elsewhere in the region.