The move, agreed during the first meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, will ease the suffering of the Palestinian people. Hamas criticizes the gesture as a pure “trickery”.

Jerusalem (Asianews/Agencies) - The Israeli government approved yesterday evening the release of 100 million US dollars in frozen Palestinian funds and promised to ease West Bank travel restrictions. The move was agreed at the first meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. It was the first Israeli-Palestinian summit in 22 months and came as both men face political problems at home that could be eased by a peace breakthrough.

 

The meeting – which lasted for 2 hours - is a "first step toward rebuilding mutual trust and fruitful cooperation," Olmert's office said. Palestinian officials praised the warm atmosphere and said more meetings were planned.

The two leaders also agreed to establish or re-establish three joint committees - a security committee to discuss the expansion of the current shaky Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire in Gaza to include the West Bank; a financial committee tasked with the transfer of tax revenues and other funds to the PA; and another to deal with eventual prisoner exchanges.

 

Israel has withheld 0m in tax revenues from the PA since Hamas formed a government earlier this year.  The Palestinian economy has suffered from the cut-off of funds, along with a Western aid freeze, which began after Hamas  won legislative elections early in the year. Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Israel plans to transfer the money soon, but that it wants to make sure the funds do not reach Hamas, which has refused Western demands to recognize Israel and end violence. In addition, Israel will transfer about 7.25 million US dollars to Palestinian-run hospitals in Jerusalem.

 

Getting control of the money will allow Abbas' office to increasingly take on the role of a shadow government in the Palestinian territories, where the international boycott of Hamas has made it difficult to pay the salaries of 165,000 Palestinian civil servants.

 

Israel also agreed to remove several roadblocks in the West Bank to make travel easier. Olmert also promised to meet a quota of letting 400 trucks move through the main cargo crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Olmert's office said the two sides also discussed the possibility of expanding a month-old cease-fire in Gaza to the West Bank. However, he complained about the dozens of rocket attacks out of Gaza since the Nov. 26 truce.

 

Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, criticized Israel's "trickery" in the meeting.

Abbas is locked in an increasingly bitter and violent showdown with Hamas. Last week, he said he would seek early elections, a dramatic challenge to the 10-month-old Hamas government.

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