Israel to give $100 mln to Abbas for aid, security
Source: Reuters
By Adam Entous JERUSALEM, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Israel will transfer $100 million in withheld Palestinian tax revenues to President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday under a deal earmarking the funds for humanitarian needs and a U.S.-backed security programme, Israeli officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the money will not be used by Abbas to make long-overdue salary payments to Palestinian public sector workers, hard hit by a Western and an Israeli embargo of the Hamas-led government. Palestinian officials had no immediate comment. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been under U.S. pressure to take steps to strengthen Abbas and his Fatah-dominated presidential guard in their power struggle with Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian Authority in March and has been building up its own "Executive Force". During his first formal meeting with Abbas on Dec. 23, Olmert promised to hand over the $100 million and to remove roadblocks in the occupied West Bank. Since that meeting, Abbas's allies have complained that Israel has been undercutting him by taking its time to deliver on its promises. Abbas, who met U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday, asked Washington to intervene. Rice held talks with Olmert on Monday in Jerusalem. "The money will be transferred tomorrow (Friday)," a senior Israeli government official said. "They (Israeli and Palestinian negotiators) found a mechanism to make sure the money will not get to the Hamas government or the Hamas Finance Ministry." Israeli officials said Abbas's office has already opened a bank account to receive the Palestinian tax funds. "Its designated use is for humanitarian needs, as defined by the Palestinian president, and for the implementation of recommendations" by U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton, who is overseeing an American-led programme to strengthen Abbas's presidential guard, a senior Israeli official said. The official did not say what specific security projects the tax money would be used for. "It's not supposed to be used for salaries," the official said of the $100 million that will be transferred. Israel has been withholding nearly $500 million in Palestinian tax revenues, money that would normally be used by the Palestinian Authority to pay government workers. The Israeli government decided last February to halt the tax revenue transfers, estimated at $50 million to $60 million per month, after Hamas Islamists beat Abbas's Fatah movement in parliamentary elections a year ago. Hamas has struggled to govern since taking office in March under the weight of U.S.-led sanctions imposed because of its refusal to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals. Palestinian government workers signed an agreement over the weekend to end a strike over unpaid wages, but it was unclear where Abbas would secure the funds to start paying salaries.
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