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Gaza: US, Israel to the rescue?
15/06/2007 14:58 - (SA)
Jerusalem - The United States, Israel and
European states are preparing to ease sanctions in the West Bank
to try to bolster an emergency government formed by Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, officials said on Friday.
Senior Israeli and Western officials said Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert and US President George W Bush would discuss at a
meeting next week a series of "gestures" they planned to take,
including the release to Abbas of a portion of the Palestinian
Authority's tax revenues being withheld by Israel.
An official in Olmert's office said Abbas's decision to
dismiss the Hamas-led government and form an emergency
administration in the occupied West Bank cleared the way for
Olmert to "co-operate with the moderates, headed by Abu Mazen
(Abbas), in both the security and the financial spheres".
Israeli officials estimated that $300m to $400m in Palestinian tax revenues could be transferred, short of the $700m sought by Abbas. Israeli officials say the rest of the money has been frozen by court order.
European diplomats said some European Union member states
would be prepared to steer funds to Abbas in co-ordination with
Washington, though it was unclear how much and how soon. "Abu
Mazen has strongly requested that we support him fully," one EU
diplomat said, adding that the request was viewed favourably.
Western and Israeli officials said the goal would be to
strengthen Abbas, his secular Fatah faction and other
"moderates" in the West Bank, while isolating Hamas Islamists
who seized control of the Gaza Strip in fierce fighting.
Hamas-led government on brink of financial collapse
An economic and diplomatic embargo of the Hamas
administration in Gaza would remain in place and would be
tightened in some areas, particularly along the Egyptian border.
Officials said the US strategy was based on the premise
that strengthening Abbas, and reviving the peace process through
him in the West Bank, would serve to marginalise Hamas and
increase Fatah's chances of winning any future elections.
US officials had no immediate comment.
Western donors led by the United States cut off direct
financial aid to the Palestinian Authority in March 2006 after
Hamas defeated Abbas's Fatah faction in parliamentary elections.
Coupled with Israel's withholding of tax revenues that it
collects on the Palestinians' behalf - the Authority's main
domestic source of funding - the sanctions have pushed the
Hamas-led government to the brink of financial collapse.
A senior Israeli official involved in the funding issue said
Israel would go along with US efforts to "throw full-fledged
support behind (Abbas) and build him up in the West Bank".
"If there will be an emergency government without
participation of Hamas, then the funds can flow," said another
senior Israeli official.
- Reuters
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