U.S. resumes ties with Palestinian Authority

The United States is re-establishing full ties with the Palestinian Authority and resuming assistance at levels that existed before Hamas assumed governance.Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, said she spoke Monday with the new P.A. prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and congratulated him on assuming his post – a result of the disillusion of the Hamas-led government by P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas. Fayyad will still serve as finance minister.”I told him the United States would resume full assistance to the Palestinian government and normal government-to-government contact,” Rice said at a State Department briefing.Rice said the United States would continue to funnel emergency funds to the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is now in full control, through the U.S. Relief and Works Agency. She said $40 million in emergency relief was on its way.