Foreign ministers from around 20 countries gathered in Berlin on Tuesday for a conference designed to help Palestinians prepare for the day they take on responsibility for their own state, reported dpa.
Efforts by the Palestinian Authority to modernize its police force and judicial system are the focal point of the gathering hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Organizers hope the Conference in Support of Palestinian Civil Security and the Rule of Law will raise 183.6 million dollars over the next three years for police training, equipment and judicial projects in the West Bank.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir are among those attending, but Syria has not sent a delegation.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa and European Union Mideast envoy Tony Blair will also be present.
Following the conference, Rice, Lavrov and Blair will join EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and a representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting of the Mideast Quartet of mediators.