WHAT COST does the USA bear for ISRAELI PEACE ?
In push for peace, Israel again relying on U.S. aid
By Larry Kaplow
American-Statesman International Staff
TEL AVIV, Israel -- With a Wednesday deadline looming for a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel, and with U.S. mediators pressing for an accord, questions are being raised about the price the Israelis have placed on peace.
The Palestinians have threatened to declare a state with or without Israel's approval. With a country smaller than Vermont, Israelis say they can offer Palestinians land for a peace agreement only if the Israeli army becomes stronger. And they want the United States to help pay the bill.
In July, President Clinton promised to pitch in. The U.S. cost for upgrading Israel's military in the next 10 years could top more than $17 billion.
Israel already draws one-fifth of all U.S. foreign aid -- nearly $3 billion a year, or about $500 for each of the 6 million Israelis.
``I do consider Israel a strategic ally, and I want it to succeed, but at the same time I don't want Israeli citizens to assume this is an entitlement, like food stamps in the Middle East,'' said Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., who leads the House subcommittee that writes the foreign aid budget.
``The more money we give to Israel, the less money we have for starving children in Africa,'' said Callahan, who favors ending economic, but not military, aid to Israel.
Most, however, say aid to Israel is an investment that reaps strategic dividends for the United States.
``We (in the United States) know we can always rely on Israel in any situation,'' says Ester Kurz, legislative strategy director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. ``If Israel weren't there, if Israel were weakened, if Israel couldn't stay strong against its enemies, we wouldn't have much of an ally.''
Israeli is an ally that receives special treatment:
According to the Congressional Research Service, a branch of Congress, Israel has received more than $66 billion in grants and $15 billion in loans from the United States since 1949 -- far more than any other country.
Israel's economy is in a high-tech boom. Israeli officials cut $300 million in taxes on stereos, refrigerators and other electric appliances this summer in expectation of budget surpluses.
Aid to Israel is given on freer terms than aid to any other nation. Israel is the only country that gets aid money upfront each year. Israel can then invest the money or lend some of it back to the United States in bonds, earning interest until Israel can spend it.
Totals for the interest weren't available, but based on estimates from Israeli and U.S. officials, it likely topped $750 million during the 1990s.
About two-thirds of this year's regular U.S. assistance, $1.9 billion, is military aid. Another $840 million is economic aid. Those two packages total about $2.8 billion, more than U.S. aid to Africa and Latin America combined. There is also $60 million in refugee aid to resettle immigrants.
The United States also authorized an additional $1.2 billion in special military aid in this fiscal year's budget -- although it is to be distributed to Israel over three years -- as the Israelis implement the 1998 Wye River peace deal, handing over West Bank land to the Palestinians.
Most of Israel's aid is required to go for buying military equipment from U.S. defense contractors, a $1.5 billion-a-year boon to U.S. lawmakers whose states -- including Texas -- have factories with Israeli contracts.
Even among Israelis, there has been growing recognition that aid to Israel should eventually come down. In 1996, Israeli and U.S. officials agreed to reduce the overall aid 20 percent over 10 years.
It will drop gradually, but the reductions made so far in the regular aid were offset this year when President Clinton and Congress agreed to give the $1.2 billion for the Wye agreement.
Accrued interest
Critics say what really makes the U.S. aid to Israel special is not only the volume of aid, but the leeway Israel has in spending it.
In particular, they cite the annual economic aid. Other countries get such aid with spending overseen locally by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Although officials say the aid to Israel is meant to help the country pay off old debts to the United States, the money goes into the general Israeli budget where it can be spent on everything from welfare to roads.
Both the economic and military aid come in lump-sum payments within 30 days after the passage of the U.S. budget. Israel can then deposit the money in interest-bearing accounts. It also buys U.S. bonds, in effect lending the money back to the United States for interest, until the Israeli government needs it.
The Israeli Ministry of Finance says that interest on just the military aid reached $120 million last year.
Some economists and congressional staff said the lump-sum payments cost U.S. taxpayers money. If the money stayed with the U.S. Treasury longer, under one scenario, the U.S. government could use it to pay off old debt and save interest costs.
Callahan calls the lump-sum practice ``stupid, or at least unusual, foreign policy."
Aid reaps dividends
Despite the cost of the U.S. aid, Israel's supporters say it has been good for both sides.
For Israel, they say, the military aid has kept the tiny state several steps ahead of the Arab rivals surrounding it. It is from this position of strength that the Israelis seek to make peace with the Palestinians and other Arab neighbors.
Israeli officials say that if they must risk giving up land, they want extra assurances that Israel will keep a military edge. During peace talks with Syria last year, Israeli officials floated the figure of $17 billion as what they would need to hand over the strategic Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967.
Israeli supporters argue that such requests aren't out of line because U.S. aid has paid off for the United States. As Arab countries saw they couldn't defeat Israel, they sought peace, helping calm a region that sits on 60 percent of the world's oil reserves. The Arab states also sought better ties with the United States. The result: Both Israelis and Arabs were turning to the United States for help.
``This is the best investment and cheapest investment the United States has ever made,'' said Israeli Dan Schueftan, an occasional adviser to Israel's defense and foreign ministries. ``You (Americans) end up in a situation where both sides are indebted to you."
Israel provided a Cold War outpost for the United States in a potentially explosive Middle East loaded with Soviet clients. Israel did things, such as destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, that also served U.S. interests. Israel also gave equipment to the United States during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and works closely with U.S. intelligence services.
Competing needs
But critics say at least some of the Israeli aid could do more good in other places. There are a host of needs, from an HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa that activists say requires $3.3 billion a year to a $500 million shortfall in U.S. embassy staff and construction.
Meanwhile, Israel's economy and army are strong.
``They are so vastly superior to any combination of Arab armies it's ridiculous,'' said Stephen Zunes, a Mideast expert at the University of San Francisco.
The United States also has other allies in the region, as reflected in the U.S. Navy facility in Bahrain and the U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
``I would give money to where it is most needed, and Israel is pretty far down the list,'' Zunes said.
Israel is far richer than most other U.S. aid recipients. Its gross domestic product per capita was $18,300 in 1999, according to the CIA World Factbook. By comparison, Spain's was $17,300 and Greece's $13,900.
Israel's economic output overall nearly doubled from $53 billion in 1990 to $101 billion in 1999, according to the Israeli Finance Ministry.
Economist Jimmy Weinblatt has written that the Israeli economy has developed an addiction to the U.S. aid that stunts economic growth. Israel could handle a cut, he said.
``In the short run, it would cause some shortages but in the long run it is the right thing to do,'' said Weinblatt, dean of humanities and social studies at Israel's Ben Gurion University.
Some among Israel's political right wing also see the U.S. aid as causing a political addiction.
``There is such a psychological dependence," Israeli lawmaker Uzi Landau said. ``There is a notion that Israel receives so much help from the United States . . . that we have to listen and do what we are told."
The U.S. public tends to be skeptical of aid to Israel, said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.
He cited a 1999 Gallup Poll of 1,021 people that showed a plurality of more than 40 percent favoring less aid for Israel.
But Kull said that general public opinion doesn't sway Washington as much as organized groups do.
Pro-Israeli groups also are well-organized. They frequently pay to bring U.S. politicians --including Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush -- on trips where they meet Israeli officials.
Callahan says there's local pressure, too, because, ``the Jewish community has been very generous with contributions'' to political campaigns.
But Scott Lasensky, research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said support for Israel is grass-roots and broad-based. Especially active are evangelical Christian groups that believe Israel must be strong before Christ can return.
If a breakthrough for peace is achieved, Lasensky said, Israel's request for billions in new aid will likely be received well by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
``It's still Washington's best bipartisan consensus: Aid to Israel,'' Lasensky said.
���������� www.aamen.org��������������������������������� www.oxbows.com
Amen Ministries of Austin��///� Oxbows Ministries International�
��������������������� P.O. Box 27683 - Austin, Texas� 78755
Zec. 12:2-3
2� "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.
3� On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves."
Oxbows Commentary -
According to scripture, there will� come a time in the last days� when� all� nations (peoples) will desert (abandon) the land (peoples) known as Israel.� Even though the article above clearly highlights the massive (i.e., Billions) financial and military (hardware) aid the USA has and is providing the Israeli Nation,� America is the only third-world country supporting Israel.
There are no other political/military/economic powers siding with Israel in her time approaching Jacob's Troubles.� If and when America no longer is willing to support Israel with its� political covering, financial aid� and� military hardware ... then she will be vulnerable to the lions surrounding her, who have been waiting to pounce on a cornered prey. The coming anti-Christ, according to scripture, will come to the aid of Israel, through the confirming of a seven year peace agreement - yet be signed ... and America will shortly then become apart of Zec. 12:3 "...when all nations of the earth are gathered against her (Jerusalem),...." (all here means all Nations).� It is believed by some,� that God has up to this time spared America for several reasons, two of which are:
������������� (1) The USA provides over 90% of all evangelical ministries to the world and underwrites 95% of the
������������������� financial aid for all overseas outreach ministries.
������������� (2) The USA provides over 97% of all grants, gifts and loans guarantees to Israel from among all the
������������������� nations in the UN.� America is known worldwide to be the (earthly) "protector" of Israel and only
������������������� the most foolish one would attempt to incur the nuclear-might of America for invading Israel.�
������������������� However, scripture tells that Gog of the Land of Magog (read Ezek.Ch. 38) will come against
������������������� Israel as will a great horde from the East.�
Major foreign policy decisions and priorities will be made and set by the administration of the next President of America;
thusly, which will effect this country's relationship and support with and for Israel.�� This is a time for great intercession, supplication and offering up Thanksgiving for all the Lord has done and will do. Our hope resides in Christ Jesus and
believing that He is all knowing, powerful and ever-present.� All things are held together by the word of His power
(Heb. 1:3).
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