Jordan would be admitting for hospital treatment Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli troops from Monday and launching a campaign to raise funds for them on the personal instructions of King Abdullah II, a government source said.
Preparations were made Sunday to take in an unspecified number of the casualties from the bloody fighting that has rocked the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and spread to northern Israel over the past four days.
The source said the injured would begin to be transported to Jordanian military and civilian state hospitals from Monday. There were no further details.
Abdullah meanwhile instructed a charity organization linked to the royal palace to begin collecting financial and medical contributions for the Palestinian people, official Petra news agency reported.
The national campaign will take off Monday to gather "contributions for our relatives in the occupied Palestinian territories in the difficult times that they are witnessing" Petra said.
The agency said contributions could be made directly to the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Agency in its branches throughout the kingdom and gave several phone numbers.
On Sunday Abdullah pledged unrelenting support to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, including medical assistance, during a telephone conversation in which the monarch blamed Israeli "provocation" for four days of bloody clashes.
They both also agreed that Arafat would visit Jordan on Monday for further consultations.
More than 30 people have been killed in the violence that erupted following a controversial visit by Israeli right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon Thursday to Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, a site which both Jews and Muslims consider holy.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
