SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt, March 02, SPA -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, onher first foray into Middle East politics as U.S. secretaryof state, arrived at an international donors conferenceMonday with a U.S. pledge of about $300 million inhumanitarian aid for the war-torn Gaza Strip, Associated Press reported. She also was to announce about $600 million in assistanceto the Palestinian Authority. «We have worked with the Palestinian Authority to installsafeguards that will ensure our funding is only used whereand for whom it is intended and does not end up in thewrong hands,» Clinton told the conference, according toexcerpts of her prepared remarks provided in advance by theState Department. Clinton stressed that the Obama administration is taking awide-angle view of the humanitarian crisis in Gazafollowing weeks of attacks by Israel in response to Hamasrockets fired into southern Israel. «Our response to today's crisis in Gaza cannot beseparated from our broader efforts to achieve acomprehensive peace,» she said. «By providing humanitarian aid to Gaza we also aim tofoster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fullyrealized, a state that is a responsible partner, is atpeace with Israel and its Arab neighbors and is accountableto its people,» she added. Clinton scheduled one-on-one meetings with several of herMideast counterparts, including Egyptian Foreign MinisterAhmed Aboul Gheit and foreign ministers from Morocco,Algerian, Libya and Tunisia. She also was to meet withEgyptian President Hosni Mubarak, French President NicolasSarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Afterthe daylong conference she was flying to Al-Quds city (Jerusalem). Clinton also planned to attend a meeting at Sharm el-Sheikof the Quartet of international mediating nations_ the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations andRussia _ seeking to forge progress toward peace betweenIsrael and its Arab neighbors.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/640213