International donors were set on Monday night to give more than $7.4bn in aid to the struggling Palestinian Auth­ority in a strong show of economic support intended to underpin a new Middle East peace process launched at the Annapolis meeting last month.

At a donors’ conference in Paris, Saudi Arabia promised $750m (€522m, £372m) over three years, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates $300m each and the US $550m. The UK pledged $500m. The European Union remains the single biggest donor, with $640m for 2008 alone.