Israel transfers promised tax revenues to Palestinian leader

Israel has freed a promised £50m (€76m) in frozen tax funds and transferred the money to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said today.

The transfer, made last night, gives the moderate leader a boost ahead of crucial weekend talks in Damascus with the top Hamas leader and is the first such Israeli payment since the militant Islamic Hamas won control of the Palestinian government last March.