Abbas thanks Saudi Arabia's King for grant

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, for his order to grant USD 200 million to the Palestinian Authority. The official "Voice of Palestine" radio station, on Tuesday, quoted Abbas, currently visiting New York, as expressing appreciation for the new Saudi financial support for the PA, a backing that coincided with the authority current bid to win membership for a Palestinian state, with the 1967 borders, and East Jerusalem as its capital, in the United Nations. Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad was notified by the Saudi grant, in a telephone contact, late on Monday, from the Saudi Minister of Finance, Ibrahim Assaf. Fayyad, during an extraordinary meeting of the Arab ministers of finance, held in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, earlier this month, informed his fellow Arab officials about financial difficulties, suffered by the PA. The PA says that it has not been able to pay salaries and wages for civil servants, recently.