UN concerned at potential Palestinian financial collapse

The UN today became the latest international agency to caution that Israel and the West stand to unleash a crisis in Palestinian territories by withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and tax transfers.

The flow of money has been jeopardised by the militant Islamic Hamas group’s landslide victory in the January 25 Palestinian elections. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, and has refused since its election victory to abandon its calls for Israel’s destruction.