US to lift sanctions on new Abbas government

The United States plans to lift a ban on direct aid to the emergency government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is forming following Hamas's take-over of the Gaza Strip, Washington's envoy said on Saturday.
"I think ... there won't be any obstacles, economically and politically, in terms of re-engaging with this (Abbas-appointed) government. Yes, they will have full support," US Consul-General Jacob Walles told Reuters in an interview.
Walles said Washington and its partners in the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - will make announcements next week about lifting the economic sanctions that have been in place since Hamas came to power in March 2006.