Israel frees funds for Abbas
Israel agreed on Sunday to transfer several hundred million dollars to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s emergency government, a measure designed to undercut Hamas Islamists controlling Gaza. The money, some of the Palestinian tax revenues withheld by Israel since Hamas won election in 2006, is part of an initial package of benefits to bolster Abbas that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is likely to announce at a summit in Egypt on Monday. Full Story