Israel may release tax funds to Abbas -sources
Source: Reuters
(Adds Abbas comments) By Adam Entous JERUSALEM, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Israel is considering handing over millions of dollars in withheld Palestinian tax funds to President Mahmoud Abbas in a move that could bolster him ahead of elections over his Hamas rivals, sources said on Wednesday. Western diplomats and Palestinian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the proposal under consideration calls for releasing the tax money to Abbas in stages on condition it will bypass the Hamas-led government. Transferring the funds would mark a shift in Israeli policy, and could allow the moderate Abbas to make payments to Palestinian civil servants, who have not received their full salaries since Hamas came to power in March. Two sources said Israel was prepared in principle to transfer tax funds directly to Abbas once several technical and timing issues were addressed. An Israeli official said: "No final decision has been made." Olmert's office declined to comment on Israel's plans for the funds, which total about $500 million. Top Abbas aide Rafiq Husseini said: "We have not been officially informed. We don't know how much the sum would be." Another senior Abbas aide, Saeb Erekat, said Israel would not transfer the money directly to Abbas, but use it to pay Palestinian bills to Israeli utilities as it has in the past. Abbas is expected to hold long-awaited talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the coming days, Palestinian officials say. Olmert told reporters the meeting would be "very soon" but gave no date. Abbas, speaking in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said preparations were underway for a meeting in which he will press Olmert to release the tax money and Palestinian prisoners. Abbas's call for new presidential and parliamentary elections has triggered fierce fighting in Gaza between his Fatah forces and those loyal to Hamas. On Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas forces withdrew from the streets after a fresh ceasefire aimed at halting a slide to civil war took effect. The previous truce fell apart within 24 hours. "I call on our Palestinian people, all the factions, to show responsibility and restraint," Abbas said. ISRAEL HOLDS $500 MILLION Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the ruling faction would prefer the tax money to go through the Hamas-led government. "But under the current siege, if this money comes through any other channel, including the channel of the president, we have no objection as long as its final destination will be the employees and our needy people," he added. Ten Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Abbas called on Saturday for early elections to break a political deadlock with Hamas and get Western sanctions lifted. A senior aide to Abbas said the president planned to issue a decree next week to lay the legal foundations for fresh elections, which Hamas described as unconstitutional. "Whoever objects to these elections can ask the courts whether this is legal or not," Abbas said. The expected Abbas-Olmert meeting would be the first formal talks between the two leaders since Olmert took over as prime minister in January. Israel has been under pressure from Europe and the United Nations for months to release the tax money to Abbas, who favours peace talks with the Jewish state. If a final decision is made to release the funds, one source said, "not all the money would go at once". The first instalments could total hundreds of millions of dollars. Israel wants assurances that tax money transferred to Abbas will not benefit Hamas or its government, the sources said. Israel refuses to deal with the Hamas Islamist movement, which formally seeks the Jewish state's destruction, and decided in February to halt tax revenue transfers, estimated at $50 million to $60 million per month. Hamas, which trounced Abbas's once dominant Fatah in parliamentary elections last January, has said it would boycott any new polls. No date has been announced. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah, and Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mohammed Assadi in Gaza)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
