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Israel, U.S. Eye Bank Sanctions to Curb Aid to Palestinian Cabinet

[Reuters] Adam Entous - Israel and the U.S. intend to use restrictions on banks to limit the ability of donors to transfer funds to a Palestinian unity government, senior Israeli and American sources said. International, regional and Palestinian banks will still be able to send funds directly to Mahmoud Abbas' office, but the sources said this week that Israel and the U.S. were not prepared to give a green light to banks to resume transfers directly to the unity government. "As long as the demands of the U.S. and the Quartet are not fulfilled, no money will be allowed to be transferred to the government itself. That's the decision," a senior Israeli security source said. Banks that make transfers without authorization risk being frozen out of the U.S. banking system. "The question for the banks is, from the perspective of due diligence and reputational risk, do you really want to be doing business with an entity like Hamas?" said Matthew Levitt, who until Jan. 31 was U.S. deputy assistant secretary of Treasury for intelligence and analysis.
2007-03-16 01:00:00
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