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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: <pnmideast@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: Action Alert: Last Chance to Stop Loan Guarantees
- Message-ID: <1992Aug26.190255.26554@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 19:02:55 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 228
-
- /* Written 11:31 pm Aug 25, 1992 by awair in cdp:mideast.action */
- /* ---------- "Action Alert: Last Chance to Stop L" ---------- */
- From: Arab World and Islamic Resources <awair>
- Subject: Action Alert: Last Chance to Stop Loan Guarantees
-
-
- THE MIDDLE EAST JUSTICE NETWORK
- P.O. BOX 558
- CAMBRIDGE, MA 02238
- tel. (617)666-8061 fax.(617)776-8926
-
- ACTION ALERT #37
- August 13, 1992
-
- LAST CHANCE TO STOP LOAN GUARANTEES!
- Loans will fund settlements and threaten peace process
-
- The loan guarantee debate has once again moved to center stage
- with President Bush's announcement on August 11th that he and
- Israeli Prime Minister Rabin had agreed on the "basic principles"
- on which the US would extend Israel $10 billion in loan guarantees
- over a five year period.
- THE MERITS OF AMERICAN LOAN GUARANTEES MUST BE
- EVALUATED UNDER TWO CRITERIA: WHAT ARE THE COSTS TO
- AMERICANS AND HOW WILL THEY AFFECT PALESTINIANS
- AND PROSPECTS FOR REGIONAL PEACE?
-
- SETTLEMENT FREEZE?
-
- Rabin has promised a freeze on <some> settlements and moderation
- towards Palestinians - on August 9th his government stated it
- would seek to amend a 1986 law forbidding contact between anyone
- from Israel and the territories and the PLO. But Rabin has NOT
- pledged an all-out settlement freeze. Of the 6500 housing units
- temporarily suspended, 5700 exist only as plans. The remainder
- are in preliminary stages. According to the Israeli housing
- ministry, 9600 units will continue being built, and settlements
- will not be restricted around East Jerusalem and the so-called
- "confrontation lines" in the Golan and Jordan Valley.
-
- In an April 1992 interview with the Israeli newspaper DAVAR, Rabin
- said: "The existing settlements cannot be dismantled. At this
- stage autonomy must be rooted in facts on the ground. Our
- position against political settlement has nothing to do with
- autonomy. We will preserve all the settlements, political as well
- as non-political, because they are a reality." Cabinet ministers
- have also claimed settlements would be expanded to "meet the
- natural growth in the area" (JERUSALEM POST INTERNATIONAL, July
- 25). By agreeing to loan guarantees, the President has undermined
- full linkage of aid to settlements. The amount Israel spends on
- settlements in the occupied territories may be deducted from the
- loan guarantees, excluding the first year, when Israel apparently
- will receive the entire $2 billion (NEW YORK TIMES, August 13).
- However, deductions will not apply to "security" settlements,
- still undefined.
-
- PRIVATE, NOT GOVERNMENT FUNDS MAY PAY FOR NEW
- SETTLEMENTS
-
- Moreover Israel wants to absorb hundreds of thousands more Jewish
- immigrants from the former Soviet Union. To do so, building must
- continue. Many of the units that will be built are included in
- the "7 Stars" settlement program (see BREAKING THE SIEGE no. 21)
- located on both sides of the "green line" or "confrontation zone".
- Rabin calls these "security settlements" and calls for their
- continued expansion.
-
- Building has traditionally acted as a jump start to the largely
- state-owned Israeli economy. Given Israel's poor investment
- rating, its government has promised American officials that it
- would sell government industry to private entrepreneurs, thereby
- decreasing its risk of default on the loans. Despite Israel's
- August 6th suspension for "up to two weeks" of the process of
- allocating state land for privately financed construction in
- Jewish settlements, continued construction of housing by private
- firms may well be carried out while the government maintains that
- it is not fostering settlement activity.
-
- THE LOAN GUARANTEES: MORE SPECIAL PRIVILEGES
-
- Congressional supporters of loan guarantees have argued that
- Israel is a low-risk recipient, "having never defaulted on a
- loan." But besides being America's highest foreign aid recipient,
- Israel's annual aid package is exempt from many of the rules
- governing other countries' foreign aid which masks Israel's
- inability to repay loans.
-
- According to the Congressional Research Service $21 billion in
- American government "loans" to Israel have been waived since 1974.
- The Cranston Amendment (1984) authorizes the United States to
- appropriate to Israel annually at least as much as Israel owes its
- American beneficiary (including principal and interest), thereby
- cancelling Israeli "debt."
-
- The one-time $400 million loan guarantee issued to Israel in May,
- 1990, far exceeded the normal ceiling of $25 million available to
- other countries. The total US loan guarantees for housing in
- developing countries worldwide given through US AID amounted to
- only $480 million in 1991. Furthermore the usual provision which
- mandates that foreign loan guarantees be provided for housing
- exclusively for poor people was waived. Like the $10 billion
- package, the former loan program guaranteed only Jewish housing.
-
- WHAT DO AMERICANS GET COMPARED TO ISRAEL?
-
- Soviet Jewish emigration to Israel has drastically declined since
- Israel first requested $10 billion to absorb newcomers. Many
- Members of Congress seem to think the needs of the new immigrants
- have a greater claim to US bounty than the hundreds of thousands
- of Palestinians displaced from the Gulf, and than the Somalis and
- millions of other people worldwide who have been forced to flee
- their homes and face starvation. And as Americans face harder
- times, should they be made to pay hundreds of millions of dollars
- which must be set aside for Israel's loan guarantees while some
- loan guarantee programs at home pale in comparison to the Israeli
- request?
-
- Compare the following 1991 US loan guarantee programs with the
- promise of $10 billion to Israel:
-
- Community Development $109 million
- Native Americans $49 million
- Rural Development 100 million
- Low Rent Public Housing 0.00
- Economic Development 0.00
-
-
- ACTION IS CRUCIAL!
-
- It appears that Congress will consider the loan guarantees when it
- resumes its sessions after Labor Day. Before then your elected
- officials, challengers in the forthcoming elections and local
- communities need to learn that loan guarantees to Israel are NOT
- in the best interest of the US or the Middle East peace
- negotiations. The following sample letter can be adapted to send
- to your local and regional newspapers.
-
- Honorable (Your Senator) United States Senate Washington, DC
- 20510
-
- or
-
- The Honorable (Your Representative) U.S. House of Representatives
- Washington, DC 20515
-
- Dear Senator/Representative ____________
-
- I am writing to urge you to oppose giving $10 billion in loan
- guarantees to Israel at this time.
-
- Issuing the loan guarantees will have an adverse impact on the
- Middle East peace process. Prime Minister Rabin has pledged to
- continue settlement construction, particularly in East Jerusalem
- and along the "confrontation lines" and apparently intends to go
- ahead with the "7 Stars" settlement plan which will obliterate the
- pre-1967 armistice line ("green line"). Now that Israel has
- confiscated 70% of the West Bank and 50% of the Gaza Strip,
- Palestinians can not be expected to receive Israel with sincerity
- in any negotiations if settlements continue.
-
- Like many Americans, I am also deeply concerned about the American
- economy. Not only will loan guarantees require that our
- government set aside considerable funds in case Israel defaults,
- but they will reduce the ability of American cities and rural
- communities to secure such badly needed investment guarantees.
-
- Last year the United States gave Israel nearly $5 billion dollars
- while our economy deteriorated. We should not be liable for
- Israel's economy, particularly if Israel were to default on
- repaying new loans. Israel's "zero default" record is a myth--the
- Cranston Amendment is simply a bailout.
-
- We have already this year pledged more than $3 billion in foreign
- aid to Israel. Any move to increase this amount should be
- contingent on demonstrated proof that Israel has stopped ALL
- settlement expansion and pledged to end its 25-year occupation of
- Palestinian territories.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- BIAS IN MEDIA: PROTEST OF CBS ENCOURAGED
-
- CBS newscaster, Dan Rather, Henry Kissinger and CBS consultant
- Fouad Ajami hosted a June 3rd fundraising banquet for the
- Jerusalem Foundation, an organization headed by Jerusalem mayor
- Teddy Kollek which raises money for Jewish immigrant absorption.
- A tape of the evening's proceedings was transcribed by Fairness
- and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).
-
- Neither Rather nor Ajami objected to Kissinger's statement that
- "you can't really believe anything an Arab says." Rather began
- the event by reading one of his "favorite" poems, "Jerusalem of
- Gold", that heralds the "renewal" of Jerusalem when it came under
- Jewish control in 1967. Rather then commented that "many of us
- celebrate 25 years" of Jerusalem's "reunification." Ajami later
- suggested that Palestinians were fortunate to have Israelis as
- their occupier rather than someone else who 'might not have
- influenced them towards a liberal outlook.'
-
- FAIR and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
- have been conducting daily protests of CBS and have initiated a
- letter writing campaign which questions the objectivity of its
- news. The protests condemn the broadcasting company and point out
- that such remarks, had they been made in reference to any other
- ethnic group or nationality, would have prompted a pubic apology
- by CBS.
-
- Letters may be addressed to: Eric Ober, President, CBS News, 524
- West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. ADC can be contacted at
- 4201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20008. Their
- telephone number is (202) 244-2990.
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The Middle East Justice Network was formed by Americans drawn
- together by a common concern about our government's role in
- supporting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We
- advocate a US policy based on United Nations Resolutions 181, 242
- and 338, and the principle of territory for peace, aiming at the
- creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel with
- international security guarantees for both states. Our bimonthly
- newsletter, BREAKING THE SIEGE, is intended to break through the
- siege mentality which has long prevented the Israeli- Palestinian
- conflict from being fairly discussed and understood. To subscribe
- to BREAKING THE SIEGE and Action Alerts (one year, first class
- mail) send a donation of US$15.00(introductory offer),
- $20.00(renewal), $50.00, $100.00... to: Middle East Justice
- Network P.O. Box 558 Cambridge, MA 02238
-
-