Israel hands over $1b withheld funds in sign of warming ties

Israel handed over a backlog of nearly $1.2 billion in tax money to the Palestinian Authority, or PA, on Wednesday, in another sign of warming ties between them after Joe Biden's victory in the US presidential election.

The taxes, managed by Israel under interim peace accords from the 1990s and usually handed over monthly, make up more than half the budget of the PA, whose job in managing the economy has been made much harder with the coronavirus pandemic.

This move came as result of the resumption of diplomatic ties between the PA and Israel in mid-November, after a six-month severance over Israel's plans to annex parts of the West Bank.

In May, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the Palestine Liberation Organization ended all agreements and understandings reached with Israeli and US governments. His decision was made in response to the Israeli government's plan to annex around 33 percent of the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty on settlements in the territory.

Agencies - Xinhua