Saudi Arabia is giving the Palestinian Authority $250 million in addition to Arab League funds already earmarked for the Hamas-led government, the P.A. finance minister said. Salam Fayyad told Reuters on Tuesday that he expected the money to arrive within weeks. The Arab League currently funnels about $55 million a month to the Palestinian Authority. The international community has isolated the Palestinian Authority since the election last year of Hamas, a terrorist group that rejects Israel’s existence. Fayyad, a member of a national unity government in which Hamas predominates, is considered a moderate. U.S. banking rules that ban dealing with entities that deal with terrorists has hampered direct funding to the Palestinian Authority. Fayyad said the Saudis obtained assurances from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that such rules would not apply if the Saudis funneled the money to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is run by the Fatah Party.
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