House Foreign Aid Bill: More Mideast Fairy Tales, or a Dose of Reality?

By George Moses

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has completed its work on its version of America's foreign aid effort for the next two fiscal years. The language accompanying this year's bill is an interesting departure from past years, in that it lays out more clearly than ever the nature of the financial and policy advantages to Israel of its relationship with the United States. Between the lines of the committee's report there is also evidence of mounting impatience with the Israeli government's racism, flouting of international law and intransigence in its efforts to derail the peace process.

The bad news is that, for those hoping for congressional help in bringing justice to the region, many parts of the committee's exposition make bleak reading.

Encouraging Treatment of Egypt and Lebanon

For encouragement, there is the committee's treatment of Egypt and Lebanon. Egypt's aid package is an only slightly diminished $2.267 billion, not including the billions of forgiven American debt and US backing for restructuring of the debt held by others. The amount forgiven totaled over $14 billion. The effect of these reductions is to reduce Egypt's annual debt service payments to manageable proportions.

The committee has increased the authorization for aid to Lebanon by 18 percent, from $18.2 million to $21.4 million, despite an administration recommendation that aid actually be reduced. All of the increase is for economic support and development assistance. The increase was accompanied by some kind words for President Hrawi's government, along with some disingenuous comments about "the withdrawal of all Syrian, as well as other foreign troops from Lebanon."

Also included is $20.1 million of military and economic aid to Oman. The report's language makes clear that Oman's quiet but effective cooperation during Desert Shield and Desert Storm were major factors in this decision.

On the other hand, it is clear that the House of Representatives is still prepared, with a few notable exceptions, to countenance and even support Israel's continued abuse of the Palestinian population over which it exercises military control, along with its negative interpretation of the intentions of other Arab states. It also continues its unwillingness to prevent financial abuses by placing safeguards on US aid to Israel similar to the controls which other nations, as well as American recipients of federal funds, are required to accept.

The committee attempts to lay out all of the programs which give financial support to Israel. While it may not have gotten them all, the ones it identified are worth an astounding $5.65 billion to Israel in FY 1991 alone, the vast majority of which is military in nature and reflects the rampant militarism of the Israeli government. For comparison, $5.65 billion is more than the budgets of Congress, the Judiciary and the Executive Office of the President combined. Many of these "aid"

"The committee welcomes Israel's ability to compete openly and win US defense contracts."

programs involve substituting Israeli suppliers for Americans, at a roughly calculated cost to the American economy of 95,000 jobs. Just as important, many programs involve supporting the Israeli armaments industry either through joint research and production agreements or through purchases which add to its manufacturing base. These policies constitute an end run around any attempted arms control regime for the region.

With Israel's largest military adversary defeated and the consequent reduction in threat, one might expect a certain amount of military reduction, such as that which is underway in the United States. No such luck. Israel's direct military aid is actually increased by $200 million in FY 1993 to "allow Israel to maintain its qualitative superiority in military technology over potential adversaries in the region and to allow Israel to pursue the peace process confident that its security interests are protected. " Unfortunately, this increased confidence has only produced a more pronounced military swagger, diminished willingness to discuss peace, and acceleration of land thefts in the Palestinian territories it occupies. No mention is made by the committee of the fact that Israeli military might is used primarily to harass, beat, arrest, and kill unarmed Palestinians.

"The committee supports allowing Israel to use $475 million of the FMF [military] grant assistance in both fiscal years 1992 and 1993 for offshore [that is, in Israel, instead of in the United States] procurement expenditures in Israel as an economic boost to employment research and development and production. " Thus, while American defense contractors such as Northrop and General Dynamics are laying off workers by the thousands and the United States is desperately trying to shore up its own R&D efforts to compete economically with Japan and Western Europe, this proposal amounts to the direct transfer of about 12,000 skilled American jobs, and as yet unknown technological advances, to Israel.

"The committee notes that Israeli defense sales to the United States have increased from $9.4 million in 1983 to $354.2 million in 1989. The committee welcomes Israel's ability to compete openly and win US defense contracts. . . " Not so openly, according to former Mossad operative Victor Ostrovsky. He tells how an Israeli government-controlled firm won a US Navy contract for aerial drones by first stealing plans from a US company, then underbidding that same company because of its "lower R&D costs" to win the contract. Either way, $354 million in sales lost to US companies means 9,000 or so skilled American jobs are exported to Israel.

Having It Both Ways

"The Committee commends Israel for its restraint in the face of 39 Scud attacks by Iraq, and commends Israel for reconciling its national interests with those of the international coalition opposed to Iraqi aggression. The committee believes that the high level and long-standing nature of US-Israeli cooperation gave Israel the confidence to pursue policies and follow a course of action congruent with coalition efforts throughout the crisis. " Here the committee seems to be trying to have it both ways. Either Israel "restrained" itself against its interests because of its relationship with the United States, for which it would deserve thanks, or else the restraint aided (but did not bring about) the defeat of its adversary Iraq by the coalition with almost no Israeli casualties or even expense, for which Israel owes thanks to the coalition, not the other way around. But it can't be both.

"Israel is the largest foreign recipient of SDI program contracts worth a total of $402 million." Another 10,000 American jobs gone to Israel.

"The committee appreciates Israel's willingness to host US Navy ship visits, which numbered 32 in 1990 .... This access ... provides income and work to Israel's ports and yards. " Nations routinely lobby hard for portcalls by American ships, not the other way around. Meanwhile, several American shipyards in Philadelphia and on the West Coast are closing for lack of work. The committee estimates that the US spent $11.2 million on these visits to Israel in 1990 for resupply and repair, exporting about 300 more American jobs.

The bill creates a $5 million endowment for a scholarship fund for Israeli Arabs, stating that "the intent of this program is to fund educational training in the United States and prepare Israeli Arabs for careers in Israel. " Committee sources say that the program will be administered on the model of the Fulbright scholarship program. Unstated in the committee's report is the reason such a program is necessary: it has discovered that Israeli Arabs have been systematically excluded from the Fulbright program in Israel. With major educational opportunities in the United States denied to them, Israeli Arabs have for the most part pursued their education in the East Bloc. This, of course, suits the Israeli authorities just fine; by using an educational whip to drive the Arab intelligentsia toward communism, it can continue to point to the "threat" of a "disloyal population in its midst.

The committee's desire to deal with this problem is admirable; its method, however, leaves a great deal to be desired. The creation of a separate Arab educational ghetto will almost certainly be read in Israel as an endorsement of its Jim Crow educational stance, and America's name in the region will continue to be dragged by these "educators" through the muck of racial bigotry.

No Need for Vigilance

Although the committee expressed its concern about the recently revealed case o kickbacks in the military aid program to Israel, it professed itself satisfied with the Israeli investigation and the Israeli version of events, and apparently saw no need for American vigilance against such fraud. Contrast that with the committee's concern about "improper and inadequate oversight of US program funds" expended by AID in the West Bank and Gaza (Palestine). For context, remember that one Israeli Air Force general stole an amount of money that nearly equals the entire US AID budget for all the West Bank and Gaza (Palestine) for 1992. The Israeli purchasing mission in New York City, which was used to perpetrate this fraud and which has also been involved in prior cases of technology theft, continues to enjoy diplomatic immunity.

"The committee also notes that all economic assistance agreements with Israel contain a clause specifying that the funds are not to be used outside the pre-1967 borders of Israel." There is no indication of any mechanism by which this requirement has ever been enforced or audited, and the committee is silent on the point of whether Israel is complying with this "agreement. " It is not likely that a single member of the committee is a big enough fool to believe that the current level of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza (Palestine) could be maintained without financial assistance. That probably explains the committee's request that the Department of State provide within 60 days "a full report on settlement activities in 1990-1991 in the territories occupied since 1967 with special emphasis on expenditures, subsidies and financial incentives relating to settlements. " This is not a report that Israel will welcome.

Recently, there have been press accounts of armed Israeli squatters threatening American diplomats with their firearms.

If evidence of the need for skepticism about Israeli intentions were necessary, the committee provides it in its discussion of the treatment of the Black Hebrew community living in Israel. The Israeli government has tried so hard to rid itself of this community one would think it was some sort of Palestinian fifth column, instead of a group of African-American immigrants to Israel. Two years ago, the US government recommended that a paltry $5 million of US aid be devoted to the needs of this community on a one-time basis. In the closest thing in its report to a rebuke of Israel, the committee noted that in a two-year period, a grand total of $1 million has been spent to benefit the Black Hebrews, and renewed its call for another "$3-4 million" to meet their needs.

Finally, responding to a stream of complaints from American businessmen, the committee has catalogued (albeit in the most careful terms) a series of Israeli abuses of the US-Israel free trade agreement. The business community can only hope that the committee's interest will give the administration's trade officials the courage they need to crack down on these practices, whose cost in American jobs cannot be calculated.

The committee has recommended an increase in economic aid to the West Bank and Gaza (Palestine) from $12 million to $16million, of which it suggests that $2 million be used for the education of Palestinians in the United States. For reference, the practice of providing Israel all of its aid within 30 days of the beginning of the fiscal year alone adds more than $36 million to its value—over twice the amount provided to the West Bank and Gaza (Palestine).

A Masterpiece of Understatement

In a true masterpiece of understatement, the committee states that it "is troubled by reports of tension and altercations between the UNRWA representatives and individuals in the Israeli IDF and the border police." This statement would lead one to believe that the Israeli government has no official connection with the acts of these " individuals " and, therefore, bears no responsibility for their behavior. Israeli government behavior bears this out; the chances for one of these "individuals" being seriously disciplined for their harassment of unarmed relief workers approach zero. More recently, there have been press accounts of armed Israeli squatters threatening American diplomats with their firearms. Although the committee appears to be slowly realizing the degree to which the Israeli government is willing to see American lives threatened or taken in pursuit of its theft of Palestinian lands, full realization appears likely to come only after more American lives are lost. Since the executive branch has been disgracefully lackadaisical in following up on prior deaths of Americans at Israeli hands, we can regard future deaths as a virtual certainty.

The committee has omitted any reference to the continued occupation by force of St. John's Hospice in Jerusalem, which is being at least partly funded by the Israeli government and, therefore, with US funds; the lack of Israeli cooperation in resolving the murders of Arab-Americans Alex Odeh in California and Amjad Jibril in the West Bank; depredations of the Israeli puppet militia in Israeli-occupied Lebanon; and continued Israeli use of US-supplied arms for offensive operations in Lebanon in violation of terms under which those weapons were provided.

While an argument can be made that the committee should not need further prompting on these subjects, the fact is that their exclusion is probably an accurate reflection of the lack of public pressure to address these questions. Until that pressure appears, reality will be avoided on Capitol Hill, and the fairy tales will continue.

George Moses, a former president of the National Association of Arab Americans, is a legislative and economic consultant based in Washington, DC