US gives $40m aid to Palestinians

[Jon]

Urly Whirly

The US has pledged to give $40m (£21m) in the next 90 days to the Palestinian Authority amid new peace hopes.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US would also appoint a "security co-ordinator" and peace monitors to help Palestinian reform.

Ms Rice was speaking at a news conference after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

Mr Abbas welcomed US intervention and called on Israel to take its own measures to work towards peace.

He said he hoped his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday would help advance the process.

There should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to this process at this time

Condoleezza Rice

The Israeli-Palestinian meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh - without any US involvement - will be the highest-level talks between the two sides since the intifada broke out in 2000.

Ms Rice said the US "will be very active" in new efforts to find common ground between Israel and the Palestinians.

She announced that both Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon had accepted invitations to visit President George Bush at the White House in the spring.

She said that of some $350m promised to the Palestinian Authority last week by Mr Bush, $40m would be handed over immediately for a "quick action programme" to create jobs and rebuild infrastructure.

She announced the appointment of US Lieutenant-General William Ward to "encourage resumption of bilateral security co-ordination".

He is expected to visit the region in the coming weeks.

Interesting.

[Jon]

Source...

[Predator]

Let me know when they start giving 10 billion+/year to the Palestinians.

[Joe]

Why would the U.S. more than double its entire foreign aid budget for the Palestinians?

[Admiral_K]

Let me know when they start giving 10 billion+/year to the Palestinians.

People like you would just bitch that we didn't spend 20 billion then.

They've got $40 million more than they would've had without us.

[Plekhanov]

Let me know when they start giving 10 billion+/year to the Palestinians.

People like you would just bitch that we didn't spend 20 billion then.

Unlikely Predator would seem to be referring to the amount of aid the US gives Israel (though I think his figure may be a little off) rather than simply complaining about a lack of generosity.

They've got $40 million more than they would've had without us.

Bullshit without the US bankrolling and diplomatically shielding Israel for the last few decades the Palestinians would be in a much better position than they are today, $40mill in aid is trifling in comparison to the harm done to them by the US's support for Israel's expansionist policies.

[Predator]

Plekhanov hit the nail on the head. And yeah, I dont think my figure for Israeli aid is quite accurate. I seem to recall it's around 10 billion in economic aid, with another 10 billion in military aid, but that's just from memory. I'm sure someone will pop in with better figures.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Plekhanov hit the nail on the head. And yeah, I dont think my figure for Israeli aid is quite accurate. I seem to recall it's around 10 billion in economic aid, with another 10 billion in military aid, but that's just from memory. I'm sure someone will pop in with better figures.

Actually, chances are, someone might show up to lock this thead, as it's wandering dangerously into IvP territory. But yes, it's good that we're finally giving the Palestinians something for a change, though it remains to be seen if the new government is less corrupt than it was under Arafat.

[Joe]

Your numbers are totally wrong. They don't get anywhere near 10 billion economic aid, they got around 480 million in 2004, and the economic aid will be phased out altogether by 2008. In military aid, they get around 2.15 billion a year, and that number will continue to grow by around 60 million a year for the near future. In addition to that, they get something like 50-60 million a year for the resettlement of Jewish refugees, though I'm not entirely sure what's up with that.

[Predator]

Well I decided to get firmer on the figures, and found a few links.

US Aid to Israel

Those figures only go to 1997, however they have a nice breakdown right to the per-taxpayer/per-Israeli level. The grand total is listed as $84,854,827,200.

For many years the American media said that "Israel receives $1.8 billion in military aid" or that "Israel receives $1.2 billion in economic aid." Both statements were true, but since they were never combined to give us the complete total of annual U.S. aid to Israel, they also were lies—true lies.

Recently Americans have begun to read and hear that "Israel receives $3 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid." That's true. But it's still a lie. The problem is that in fiscal 1997 alone, Israel received from a variety of other U.S. federal budgets at least $525.8 million above and beyond its $3 billion from the foreign aid budget, and yet another $2 billion in federal loan guarantees. So the complete total of U.S. grants and loan guarantees to Israel for fiscal 1997 was $5,525,800,000.

According to the Population Reference Bureau of Washington, DC, in mid-1995 the sub-Saharan countries had a combined population of 568 million. The $24,415,700,000 in foreign aid they had received by then amounted to $42.99 per sub-Saharan African.

Similarly, with a combined population of 486 million, all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean together had received $38,254,400,000. This amounted to $79 per person.

The per capita U.S. foreign aid to Israel's 5.8 million people during the same period was $10,775.48. This meant that for every dollar the U.S. spent on an African, it spent $250.65 on an Israeli, and for every dollar it spent on someone from the Western Hemisphere outside the United States, it spent $214 on an Israeli.

[Plekhanov]

Your numbers are totally wrong. They don't get anywhere near 10 billion economic aid, they got around 480 million in 2004, and the economic aid will be phased out altogether by 2008. In military aid, they get around 2.15 billion a year, and that number will continue to grow by around 60 million a year for the near future. In addition to that, they get something like 50-60 million a year for the resettlement of Jewish refugees, though I'm not entirely sure what's up with that.

That sounds about right the figure people generally toss about is $3 billion and I did read a while back that they were phasing out the economic aid. Still be it 10, 3 or 2 billion the exact number of billions doesn't matter all that much in this discussion, the central point of gunhead's post remains as this aid to the PA pales in comparison to the aid Israel gets and doesn't come close to ameliorating the harm done to the Palestinian economy by for example the arbitrary movement restrictions the occupying Israeli forces (much of their kit of course paid for by the US) place on the Palestinian people.

[Knife]

Actually, this is a facinating development. A security coordinator and some bucks. I'm interested in where it is going to. I doubt Bushy will let it slide into the great unknown, or more to the point, Congress won't let it just disapear.

Though, I might add, I was hopefull durring Billy boy's term and nothing came of that either.

[Plekhanov]

Actually, this is a facinating development. A security coordinator and some bucks. I'm interested in where it is going to. I doubt Bushy will let it slide into the great unknown, or more to the point, Congress won't let it just disapear.

I dunno they don't seem too fussed about $8.8bil going awol link whats $40mil compared to that?

[Rogue 9]

Actually, this is a facinating development. A security coordinator and some bucks. I'm interested in where it is going to. I doubt Bushy will let it slide into the great unknown, or more to the point, Congress won't let it just disapear.

I dunno they don't seem too fussed about $8.8bil going awol link whats $40mil compared to that?

If you want to be really cynical, they'll care because of where the money's going. If millions of dollars are leaking out of the Palestinian Authority, it's a good bet that at least some of it is going to Hamas and company. That'd make a fine newspaper headline back in their districts. "Congressman X votes aid for Palestinians, money promptly funneled to terrorists." That's a hell of a way to lose a shitload of seats come next election.

[Predator]

Actually, this is a facinating development. A security coordinator and some bucks. I'm interested in where it is going to. I doubt Bushy will let it slide into the great unknown, or more to the point, Congress won't let it just disapear.

I dunno they don't seem too fussed about $8.8bil going awol link whats $40mil compared to that?

Yes but, most of that 8.8 billion will have ended up in the hands of US companies and officials, which will trickle down into the hands of US citizens for the benefit of the economy, whereas that 40 million is going directly to terrorist scum.

[Knife]

Actually, this is a facinating development. A security coordinator and some bucks. I'm interested in where it is going to. I doubt Bushy will let it slide into the great unknown, or more to the point, Congress won't let it just disapear.

I dunno they don't seem too fussed about $8.8bil going awol [/url] whats $40mil compared to that?

Covered, but I'll adress. While Pork barrel speding is a cancer on our society, people turn the blind eye because its going to them or even someday it'll be their turn.

Millions of bucks going to the Palasentian Authority, if it gets displaced, can go to some really nasty places. No Senator worth his/her salt is going to sit still (especially those politically against Bush) while Bush bucks is leaking to the nemesis of the Bush administration (terrorists).

This 40 million seems to be more of a 'let's see if we can trust you' than anything else.

[tharkûn]

without the US bankrolling and diplomatically shielding Israel for the last few decades the Palestinians would be in a much better position than they are today, $40mill in aid is trifling in comparison to the harm done to them by the US's support for Israel's expansionist policies.

Either that or they'd be forcibly expelled as the best bludgeon against the fanatical Israeli right is removed. US money acts as a leash on the hard Israeli right. Direct US interference ended several wars when Israel was ascendent. Bibi's solution to finding a needle in haystack is burning down the haystack - his words; without US money Bibi would have been far more aggressive.