News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer claimed Wednesday in the Knesset that Hamas would not profit from the money Israel will pay for gas from the offshore fields opposite the Gaza shore. The gas fields are operated by British Gas as well as billionaire Martin Schlaf and Fatah financier Muhammad Rashid.

In a reply to a parliamentary question by MK Aryeh Eldad, Ben-Eliezer said that there were numerous discussions of this matter in the government and that following talks with Mahmoud Abbas's representatives it was clear that "this money will only reach Abu Mazen."

The gas fields were developed by Israel and were transferred free of charge to the PA by Ehud Barak in 1999, for reasons that have never been made clear. Barak is reportedly being investigated for receiving $500,000 from Schlaf in that same year.