Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad signed a deal with the World Bank on Monday to finance three projects in the Gaza Strip but said they could not go ahead until Israel had lifted its blockade. The $29 million agreement covers an electric utility management project as well as water and wastewater projects in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Half of the money is earmarked for the Gaza Strip, which Hamas Islamists seized from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces a year ago. Fayyad said around 40 percent of $7.7 billion in aid pledged by international donors last year was to have gone for projects in the Gaza Strip. Egypt to reopen Rafah border Egypt is to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip for two days to allow hundreds of stranded on both sides to cross, a Palestinian diplomat in Cairo said on Monday. According to Nabil Amr, the diplomat, the opening will begin on Tuesday. Palestinians who need medical treatment would be allowed into Egypt, as well as those with residency permits in Egypt or elsewhere, Amr told reporters in Cairo. Palestinians returning from abroad will also be allowed into Gaza from Egypt, he said.
