Netanyahu refuses to release frozen Palestinian tax funds Wednesday, 23 November 2011 11:11

OCCUPIED Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's request to release Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has frozen for more than a month after UNESCO accepted the Palestinians as a member, saying he lacks a majority in the cabinet on the issue, according to Israeli daily (Haaretz).

Haaretz quoted a senior US official and an Israeli source familiar with details of the conversation as saying that Clinton called Netanyahu after messages relayed to him in recent weeks on the tax money were not answered positively

According to the Israeli daily, Netanyahu said that no decision will be reached on the matter until after a meeting on Thursday between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashal. The two Palestinians are scheduled to talk about the possible formation of a national unity government.

Israel holds $100 million in Palestinian Authority tax revenue collected in October as part of economic agreements between the two sides. (QNA)