The United States has announced its plan to donate 555 million dollars to the budget of the PLO as part of the Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State conference held Monday in Paris. The pledge includes 150 million dollars in direct funding for Abbas' Fatah government.

Monday's conference is expected to raise almost 6 billion dollars in aid for the PLO, which will be used to run local Arab infrastructure and plans for the next 3 years.

Israeli analysts have accused the United States of pressuring Israel to make concessions to the Arab world as part of US President George W. Bush's goal to create a Palestinian state by the end of his term.