Quartet agrees to extend Palestinian aid mechanism
The quartet of Middle East mediators agreed on Friday to extend an aid mechanism that channels funds to the Palestinians but bypasses the Hamas-led government for three months, the U.S. State Department said. The move, announced in a Quartet statement released by the State Department, would enable Palestinians to get aid through the so-called Temporary International Mechanism through March 2007. The mechanism had been set to expire at the end of the year. Full Story