Arab aid to Palestinian Authority blocked: official

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) — Aid pledged by Arab countries to the cash-starved Palestinian Authority has been held up, a senior Palestinian official said, blaming foreign opponents of the Hamas government.

The funds had reached the Arab League, but their transfer to the authority's bank account had been blocked, Nabil Amr, an adviser to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, told a press conference.

Amr said that "several parties have warned Palestinian financial establishments against handling sums destined for the government formed by Hamas."

Abbas, the moderate head of the Palestinian Authority who is a member of the mainstream Fatah party, had told all sides that the authority had its own separate bank account, but so far it had not been used, Amr said.

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