US Aid to Israel: Reduced by mere US$ 15 Million from US$ 2.68 BILLION aid in 2004

Read Here Nathan Guttman's article in The Haaretz "U.S. to cut $15 million in foreign aid to Israel "

No protest will be made nor tears will be shed by the Sharon Government.

The reduction was made due to Congress's decision to make an across-the-board 0.59 percent cut to every budgetary line item.

Israel is always the special recipient of US aid:

Israel will be America's largest aid recipient this year, with $2.2 BILLION in MILITARY aid and $480 million in civilian aid.

For most other American aid, recipients receive their money in several installments spread throughout the year. In contrast, Israel receives its entire aid package at the start of the year and can spend it immediately.

By virtue of an agreement in the late 1990s, Israel's civilian aid package from the US Government will be gradually reduced each year and will be phased out entirely in 2008.

Here's the catch. The MILITARY aid package will be INCREASED each year by half the reduction in the civilian aid. With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still unresolved, this point should be a cause for worry by the Palestinians fighting the Israelis for a homeland.

In addition to its regular aid package, Israel will also receive some $3 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. this year.

Read HERE List of 2002 US Congressional Candidates who received Pro-Israel "American-Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC) " funds.

Read Here Washington Report on Middle East Affairs' "U.S Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact Summary - Benefits to Israel of U.S. Aid Since 1949 "

About the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA)

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states.

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242's land-for-peace formula, supported by seven successive U.S. presidents. In general, the Washington Report supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play.

The American Educational Trust was founded in Washington, DC in January, 1982.

Its founding chairman was Edward Firth Henderson, a British Army Officer during World War II who served in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Co-founders were:

Andrew I. Killgore, AET's first president, who was U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar when he retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980; and

Richard H. Curtiss , AET's first executive director, who was chief inspector of the U.S. Information Agency when he retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980.

In addition to the three founding directors, other initial directors of the American Educational Trust were :

Prof. John Ruedy, director of studies at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies;

Thomas Rees former Democratic Member of Congress from Los Angeles;

John Law, Middle East correspondent for U.S. News & World Report for some 20 years before he founded Mideast Markets, a publication of the Chase Manhattan Bank; and

Dr. John Duke Anthony, president and chief executive officer of the National Council on U.S. Arab Relations.

Subsequent board chairmen have included:

Dr. John Davies, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and

Reverend Dr. L. Humphrey Walz, former associate executive of the Presbyterian synod of the Northeast, the current chairman

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