Israel says to stop Palestine tax seizure

Israel said on Monday it would restart regular monthly tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, restoring vital funding days after U.S. President Barack Obama called for confidence-building steps toward peace. Israel began seizing the money - about $100 million in tax revenues it collects each month on behalf of the Authority as an occupying state - in November after President Mahmoud Abbas secured de facto U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Monday said he had instructed Finance Minister Yair Lapid "to resume the transfers". A spokesman for Netanyahu said that meant regular monthly payments would be made from now on. Obama made a three-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank last week and called for a resumption of peace negotiations that have been stalled since 2010. The U.S. President said he wanted to see "steps that both Palestinians and Israelis can take to build trust and confidence upon which lasting peace will depend".