Sweden to host talks on Palestinian aid needs

STOCKHOLM, Aug 15 (Reuters) Sweden said today it would jointly host a conference at the start of September on the Palestinian territories and hoped to raise further funds for humanitarian needs.

The announcement about the conference, to be hosted jointly by Sweden, Spain and Norway on September 1, came a day after Stockholm said it would organise an international donor conference for Lebanon on August 31.

''The humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is deteriorating all the time. The human suffering in Gaza especially is getting worse by the day,'' said Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Carin Jamtin.

''The conference is about more funds, more coordination and also to get access to deliver the humanitarian help we hope to be able to provide,'' said Jamtin's spokesman John Zanchi.

The Hamas-led Palestinian government elected early this year was hit by a Western aid boycott over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace agreements. The boycott left it on the brink of financial collapse and many state workers unpaid.

Some donations have come from the Arab world. A European Union programme aims to by-pass the Hamas-led government to pay aid directly to Palestinians.

The September 1 meeting is a follow-up to a similar gathering held in Geneva on 14 July 2006, Sweden said.

It is to be held in close consultation with the United Nations and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, it added.

REUTERS DKA KN2323