September 22, 2003	Monday	Rajab 24, 1424

DUBAI, Sept 21: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) launched on Sunday a 20-million-dollar fund to help Palestinians adversely affected by a barrier Israel is building around the West Bank.

“The human cost of erecting the fence is very high and this fence will have a destructive impact on Palestinian life because it divides their society into half,” said IDB president Ahmad Mohammad Ali during a conference at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Dubai.

The bank said it and its Al-Aqsa Fund would each contribute 10 million dollars to the new fund. It urged private investors to contribute similar amounts for the Palestinians who would be “deprived of education, health care, water and other basic services as a result of the fence.”—AFP