MIDDLE EAST:Israel transferred $100 million in withheld tax revenue to Mahmoud Abbas yesterday as part of a US-led push to bolster the Palestinian president in his power struggle with Hamas, Israeli officials said.
The transfer was the first by Israel since Hamas, whose charter calls for the Jewish state's destruction, came to power last year. The US has been pressing Israel to strengthen Mr Abbas in his rivalry with the Islamist Hamas movement which took control of the Palestinian Authority in March and has been building up its own "executive force".
Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the money would be earmarked for humanitarian needs and a programme to strengthen Mr Abbas's presidential guard.
It will not be used to make long-overdue salary payments to Palestinian public sector workers, hard hit by a western and Israeli embargo of the Hamas-led government, they said. Since Hamas defeated Mr Abbas's Fatah movement in elections last year, Israel has withheld nearly $500 million in Palestinian tax revenues, money that would normally be used by the Palestinian Authority to pay government workers.
The decision not to allocate funds for salaries angered Hamas, which said the money should be distributed by the Palestinian finance ministry.
"We reject any Israeli conditions on regaining this money. This money belongs to the Palestinian people," prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas told reporters after Friday prayers. - (Reuters)