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BERLIN-Donors pledged $242 million for Palestinian police and legal institutions at a conference in Berlin on Tuesday, but the meeting was overshadowed by news that a five-day old truce in Gaza had been shaken by rocket fire.Militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip fired at least two rockets into southern Israel after Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the Nablus raid and called for calm."It is essential for the ceasefire, for calm to be sustained," Fayyad said at the meeting in Berlin. "Whatever damage has been done to the process, that damage should be undone as quickly as possible."Participants at the Berlin conference had welcomed the Gaza truce, which took effect last Thursday, in their opening speeches, but the question of how to deal with the Islamist Hamas in Gaza had divided top diplomats.Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa elicited a strong U.S. reaction when he said reconciling the Palestinians in Gaza and the Western-backed government of Mahmoud Abbas was critical for peace and the international "veto" on this had to be lifted.He did not single out any one country, but said it was the responsibility of all participants to help the Palestinians form a common front.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice surprised participants when she asked to respond directly to Moussa.To read more go to:
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