This is where Israel losses a lot of points with the American public. Not only do we give them billions in aid, but now they're asking for us to pay for the pullout.
Perhaps my memory is faulty on this one Nadine, but wasn't the U.S. government against these settlements to begin with?
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Israel to Ask U.S. for $2 Billion for Pullout
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is planning to send assessment teams to Israel to help decide how much new U.S. economic aid might be provided to help develop the Galilee and Negev regions.
newsmax.com
Already the biggest recipient of U.S. aid at $2.3 billion a year, Israel is believed to be asking for another $2.2 billion to develop the areas where many of the 8,500 Jewish settlers leaving Gaza will be relocated.
So far, the administration has made no commitment, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday. "At this point what we are doing is we are sending some teams to Israel to assess what might be possible," he said.
The pullout from Gaza began Monday. The removal of all Jewish settlers is being financed entirely by Israel at an estimated cost of $2 billion to $2.5 billion.
The Gaza and Negev development projects are designed partly to accommodate dispossessed settlers with similar farming conditions.
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said Monday that the prospect of U.S. financial support demonstrates the administration's interest in a strong and prosperous Israel "which is the cornerstone for stability in the Middle East."
He said it was an expression of economic and strategic support for Israel at a crucial moment.
The State Department also was looking ahead.
"What is crucial is that the Israelis and the Palestinians work together to make the withdrawal a success," McCormack said, "to make sure that the withdrawal takes place in an atmosphere of calm.
"That cooperation can lead to a building of trust between the two sides" and re-energize the U.S.-backed roadmap designed to produce a negotiated accord that includes establishment of a Palestinian state, he said.
Meanwhile, the administration indicated again that it considers the pullout from Gaza and four isolated West Bank settlements as only the first step in a larger withdrawal.
McCormack called the Gaza pullout "potentially historic" and said there should be "a further political horizon to this process."
The roadmap, which has the support of the European Union, the United Nations and Russia as well as the United States, calls for uprooting Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups that have carried out attacks on Israel.
"The Palestinian Authority and President (Mahmoud) Abbas understand that they have an obligation to dismantle terrorist networks," McCormack said.
Hamas plans to participate in legislative elections next January.
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