- Congress skillfully gives Israel $10 billion a year to
expand its brutal occupation of Palestinian lands in a manner that hides
the amount from taxpayers.
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- U.S. aid to Israel has some unique aspects, such as loans
with repayment waived, or a pledge to provide Israel with economic assistance
equal to the amount Israel owes the United States for previous loans, says
a Library of Congress briefing paper.
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- This paper, Israel: U.S. Foreign Assistance, was prepared
by the library's Congressional Research Service in April and is available
to all congressmen. It confirms assessments made previously by American
Free Press that blank-check aid to Israel costs taxpayers $10 billion a
year.
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- Israel also receives special benefits that may not be
available to other countries, such as the use of U.S. military assistance
for research and development in the United States, the use of U.S. military
assistance for military purchases in Israel, or receiving all of its assistance
in the first 30 days of the fiscal year rather than in three or four installments
as other countries do,the report said.
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- Because, in the age of deficits, the United States has
to borrow the money it gives Israel in one chunk at the start of the fiscal
year, taxpayers are paying interest on all the money given Israel for the
entire year.
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- These revelations come as Israel is demanding $12 billion
in addition to all other aid because tourism is down dramatically and its
economy is in shambles. The traditional celebrations of Christmas and Easter
attracted fewer believers because they feared a premature trip to heaven
in the war-ravaged land.
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- Israel is also asking for more money in Bush's road map
to peace in the Middle East, which was unveiled after Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat named Mahmoud Abbas to the new office of prime minister.
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- Israelis are unhappy with the road map because it requires
withdrawal from part of the occupied territories. So they are asking for
money to finance the withdrawal. The United States finances Israel's war
machine so it can invade and occupy Palestinian lands. Now, the United
States is being asked for money to pay for withdrawing from part of those
lands.
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- The United States and Israel hope they have a patsy in
Abbas, a close associate of Arafat who has little support from ordinary
Palestinians. But Abbas said on April 28 he would not visit foreign capitals
until Israel allows Arafat to travel freely again.
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- Though Arafat receives support from Europe, many Palestinians
believe he is ineffective and corrupt.
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- President Bush said he would invite Abbas, who dresses
in business suits and speaks English, to the White House for peace negotiations
but not Arafat. Bush said he will regard Abbas, not Arafat, as the Palestinian
leader.
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- Middle East experts said Abbas fears that accepting a
White House invitation would make him appear a U.S. lackey in Palestinian
eyes unless Israel stops trying to isolate Arafat.
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- ¥þI will not travel anywhere before Israel
lifts a siege on President Arafat so that we can get a guarantee he will
be able to go abroad and come back freely without Israeli objection, Abbas
told Reuters News Agency.
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- The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
said Arafat is free to go abroad but it will not guarantee letting him
return.
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- Arafat has denounced suicide attacks targeting Israeli
civilians.
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- On assuming office on April 29, Abbas warned Israel that
it must abandon Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to achieve
lasting peace. He again denounced terrorism and said peace is the Palestinian
goal. The road map envisions an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
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- http://www.americanfreepress.net/05_02_03/Blank-Check_/blank-check_.html
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