FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 21, 2005
CONTACT: Lewis Roth - (202) 728-1893

Washington, D.C.-Americans for Peace Now (APN) called on the Bush Administration to support Israel's renewed request for supplemental aid to help with development expenses related to this summer's disengagement initiative, as well as to consider a series of earmarks and conditions as it resumes negotiations with Israel over this assistance. APN is a Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to enhancing Israel's security through peace and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement.

APN backed both the Israeli government's settlement evacuation and its initial request for $2 billion in supplemental American assistance to pay for military expenditures related to the withdrawal and plans to develop the Negev and Galilee regions of the country. Israel had put aside its request for this aid package after the U.S. was struck by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in recognition of the economic strain that recovery efforts placed on the U.S. budget. Now, according to media reports, Israel and the U.S. have resumed discussions for a smaller aid package worth $1.2 billion, aimed exclusively at development of the Negev and Galilee.

In a letter to President George Bush, APN Chair Luis Lainer and APN President and CEO Debra DeLee wrote, "We urge you to support this special aid to Israel. We also urge you to include appropriate safeguards to ensure that the aid is used in a manner that is consistent with U.S. interests and the promotion of Israeli-Palestinian peace.These suggestions for conditioning extraordinary aid for Israel in no way diminish the Palestinian Authority's responsibility to rein in violence and terror, and we urge your Administration to demand a fair, but firm, test of the Palestinian Authority's commitment and effectiveness in this effort."

Terms, conditions, and earmarks that APN suggested to the president include:

• Negev and Galilee Development for Minorities: As Israel develops the Negev and Galilee for the benefit of arriving settlers and others, it cannot ignore the situation of the Arab population of these areas. Reports from Israel indicate that only four out of 104 communities in the Galilee targeted for assistance are Arab or Druze towns. Addressing the needs of displaced settlers should not come at the expense of Israeli citizens who already live at standards below the rest of the country.
• Removal of Settlement Outposts: Under the terms of the Road Map, Israel is obligated to remove settlement outposts established since March 2001. To date, it has done little to fulfill this responsibility. The U.S. should consider making the provision of some assistance conditional on Israel meeting this requirement and setting into motion a policy to remove all the 105 outposts, as recommended in the Sasson Report.
• Disengagement-Related Projects: The U.S. should consider earmarking portions of the aid for projects that are directly related to disengagement, such as joint Israeli-Palestinian economic programs, help operating the safe passage route between Gaza and the West Bank, improvement of the operation of security zones between Israel and Gaza, and construction of a rail spur connecting Gaza with the Israeli port of Ashdod to help Palestinians in Gaza import and export goods.
• Jerusalem Policy: The U.S. must make clear that support for disengagement and supplemental aid are not signals to Israel that it has carte blanche to undertake polices in Jerusalem that conflict with the Road Map and weaken the chances for achieving a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Oversight: The Administration should require the State Department to provide the White House and Congress with a report on how the new aid is being used and on how these uses comply with the Road Map, since there is no such oversight reporting for Israel's regular aid package and Israel continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on settlements in the occupied territories. This report should include detailed information on Israel's ongoing settlement expenditures and recommendations for ensuing that U.S. funds do not effectively subsidize activities that conflict with the Road Map.