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Israeli Prime Minister Olmert frees some Palestinian taxes
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Israeli Prime Minister Olmert frees some Palestinian taxes
Israel authorized the release of $11 million in frozen Palestinian taxes , in a bid to ease a humanitarian crisis ahead of Ehud Olmert's first trip to Washington as Prime Minister.
While both Israel and the United States are working to isolate the Hamas Islamists controlling the Palestinian government, the Jewish state has been under pressure to help avert the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli political sources made clear that none of the tax funds to be released would reach the Palestinian Authority. Israel plans to use the money to buy medical supplies based on advice of a foreign auditor and transfer them to Gaza hospitals.
The $11 million to be freed up is part of $220 million in Palestinian tax and customs levies frozen by Israel to push Hamas to recognize the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept past peace accords.
Western donors have also cut aid and contacts to put pressure on Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has refused calls to disarm.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghazi Hamad criticized Israel's decision to transfer the funds, calling it “blackmail for political concessions.”
The United States is keen to bolster the more moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a partner for eventual peace negotiations. Olmert has indicated unilateral separation moves would be carried out if talks remain on ice.
Abbas is caught up in an increasingly violent power struggle with Hamas, which defeated his long-dominant Fatah movement in the election. Skirmishes between his loyalists and a new Hamas-led security force have stirred fears of civil war.
Olmert not ruling out Abbas meeting</B>
This weekend, unidentified gunmen in the Gaza Strip fired at a car carrying two militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Fatah, killing one of them, Palestinian security sources said.
Olmert cast doubt on Abbas's ability to lead negotiations with Israel, telling CNN’s “Late Edition” that the Palestinian leader was “powerless” and “helpless” to stop militants.
But he also said he may speak to Abbas, possibly as early as when he returned from Washington, if he tried to change Hamas, disarm “terrorist” organizations and force the new Palestinian government to recognize past deal deals with Israel.
“I don’t ignore him,” Olmert told Fox News television. “I don’t boycott him. I respect him. I will negotiate with him if he is able to exercise enough authority in order to change Hamas. I hope he will have the power to do it and I will try to help him to do it.”
In another sign of Israel shifting its stance, Olmert's two top deputies met Abbas at an economic summit in Egypt, the highest-level official contact since Hamas won Palestinian elections in January.
Abbas said at the summit he would try to co-opt Palestinian factions later this month to try to get them to agree on a “two state solution,” suggesting they would recognize Israel.
In Washington, where he will meet President George W. Bush today, Olmert hopes to win key US approval for his plan to quit some parts of the occupied West Bank and annex others in the absence of peace talks with the Palestinians.
Olmert championed Israel's withdrawal last year from the Gaza Strip, which had sweeping international support.
But there is less certainty this will be the case with a “convergence plan” entailing the setting of Israel's border in land Palestinians want for a state.
After talks with Abbas in Egypt, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel was committed to the US-led “road map” to a negotiated, two-state peace accord to end fighting since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000.
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