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Fatah Receives International Aid
The European Union announced yesterday that it is resuming financial aid to Palestine, which was frozen last year after the victory of the radical group Hamas in parliamentary elections there that February. The United States will do the same thing by the end of the week and Israel will release Palestinian tax money. Hundreds of millions of dollars will flow over the Fatah-controlled West Bank. The EU gives about ˆ1 billion per year to Palestine.
The other part of the Palestinian Autonomy, the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is in control, will be completely isolated. In Gaza, there is fuel to last two more days and food for two or three weeks. One and a half million Palestinians live in Gaza. Hamas' intransigence has hindered Israeli-Palestinian dialog for the last year and a half.
Fatah, in the meantime, has prepared a list of steps for Israel to take to strengthen its position. On the top of the list is the release of Palestinian intelligence agents and Fatah activists in Israeli prisons on terrorism charges. They include Marwan Barghouti, head of the Fatah youth group Tanzim, who is serving five life sentences for his involvement in the killing of five Israelis. He enjoys great authority along Palestinians and could help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas maintain control over the situation in Palestine. Also, Abbas wants Fatah intelligence to operate unhindered and security forces to be trained without interference
In addition, Fatah wants a return to the American-brokered “benchmark plan,” which includes free movement between the west Bank and Israel. That will improve economic conditions in the West Bank and thus raise Abbas's popularity. There has been no official reaction from Israel to those requests, although Israeli Prime Minister Ehus Olmert announced yesterday that Israel would release $562 million in tax money collected from Palestinians working in Israel.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 19, 2007
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