U.S. welcomes Israel release of Palestinian tax revenue -State Dept

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States welcomed Israel's decision on Friday to release frozen tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, three months after freezing the payments to protest unilateral Palestinian moves towards statehood. "We certainly hope both sides would be able to build on this," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. "We think it's an important step." Rathke told reporters at a briefing the move will benefit the Palestinian people and said that having a functioning Palestinian Authority is important to stability in the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the funds would be sent for humanitarian reasons and in line with "Israel's interests." The move may be seen as a bid to build bridges, particularly with the White House, which criticized hawkish comments about the Palestinians that Netanyahu made in the run-up to his election victory this month. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Will Dunham)