ISRAEL TO GIVE ABBAS $100 MILLION

Israel to give Abbas $100 million (JTA)
Israel is planning to transfer $100 million to Mahmoud Abbas by Friday. An Israeli official said Wednesday that the funds, taxes held by Israel since Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority government in March, were being handed over to the P.A. president as a result of his Dec. 24 meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The funds transfer is meant to bolster Abbas, a member of the Fatah movement and a relative Palestinian moderate. The Palestinian Authority has been strapped for cash since Hamas took power last year, as Western governments have made financial aid conditional on Hamas renouncing terrorism and acknowledging Israel’s right to exist.