Israel frees funds to Fatah for salaries
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Tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants will be paid in full this week for the first time in more than a year after Israel released millions of dollars in tax receipts frozen during Hamas rule, officials said.
The fund transfer was Israel’s first concrete gesture of support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, of the more moderate Fatah party, in his battle with Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip last month.
Paying salaries allows the West Bank-based government to assert its legitimacy, disputed by the Hamas rulers in Gaza. Abbas appointed a new prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and expelled Hamas from the Palestinian government after the Gaza seizure.
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