RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 30 July 2007 — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday announced a new $30 billion US defense aid package to preserve Israel’s regional military superiority, as he appreciated Washington’s wishes to boost moderate Arab states through weapons sales.
“This is an increase of 25 percent for the military aid to Israel from the United States. I think this is a significant and important increase in defense aid to Israel,” Olmert said at the opening of the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting.
Olmert added that the aid package was offered during his meeting with US President George W. Bush in Washington on June 20.
“This would mean a lot to Israel’s security, and this is a good opportunity to thank President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,” Olmert said.
Other Israeli ministers stressed during the Cabinet meeting Israel’s need to secure its “quality advantage” over its neighbors in the Mideast and the US’ major role in maintaining this advantage.
“Defense aid to Israel is still a top priority for the United States,” Olmert told the Cabinet, adding that Israel enjoys more financial assistance than other countries in the Middle East.
“We have renewed agreements and a renewed commitment from the Americans that would help preserve our advantage over the Arab countries,” Olmert said, referring to reports by the New York Times and the Washington Post that the US is mulling a $20 billion arms deal with Gulf states and increasing military aid to Egypt to $13 billion over 10 years.
The deal with Gulf states includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to their fighter jets and new naval vessels. It has reportedly raised concerns in Israel and among its supporters in the Congress. However, Olmert said that Israel fully understood the US’ need to support the moderate states in the region.
“We understand the US’ need to assist the moderate Arab states, which are standing in one front with the United States and us in the struggle against Iran,” Olmert said, referring to its nuclear program.
Israeli security officials called the increase in military aid “an unusual achievement.”
According to Israeli diplomatic sources, the final details about the new aid package to the Jewish state will be worked out during the visit by US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns to the region, adding that his visit is slated for mid-August.
US defense aid to Israel began in 1973 but a regular 10-year aid plan — with the previous one expiring this summer — was institutionalized in 1977 as part of the Egypt-Israel peace agreement, the official said.
The military aid is made up of 75 percent US military hardware, ranging from ammunition to warplanes, with the other 25 percent in cash, which goes mainly toward securing new Israeli-made weapons.
Meanwhile, a new Palestinian government platform drawn up by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pledges, in an indirect swipe at the Islamist group Hamas, to prevent the use of violence in the name of Islam.
An official English-language translation, released yesterday, of the policy document said that Fayyad’s administration would build a clearcut strategy to “enhance the status of Islam as a religion of tolerance.”
At the same time, the platform said, the government would prevent “the use of Islam to justify killings, exclusion of others and destruction.”
The phrasing was clearly aimed at Hamas who took control of Gaza last month in fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas’ secular Fatah faction.
The group has accused Abbas, based in the West Bank where Fatah holds sway, of carrying out a coup by setting up the new government without Hamas, which won an election 18 months ago. Palestinian officials on Friday confirmed that the new platform omits the phrase “armed struggle” and “resistance” against Israeli occupation.
A spokeswoman for Olmert has welcomed the new language. Hamas has rebuffed international demands to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
In another development, more than 100 Palestinians stranded for weeks in Egypt after the Hamas takeover of Gaza began returning home yesterday, crossing into Israel and riding buses to a crossing point between Israel and northern Gaza.
The first three Palestinians crossed into Gaza through the Erez checkpoint late yesterday afternoon. They were greeted with kisses and hugs from relatives, who rushed them away from the scene in cars.
The violent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip last month triggered the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which was run by Palestinian security with European supervision and Israeli security in the background — stranding about 6,000 Palestinians on the Egyptian side. During the violence, the European monitors fled and Hamas militiamen took control of the terminal.
Earlier yesterday, about 1,000 Palestinians gathered in a stadium in the Egyptian town of El-Arish, where authorities read the names of 105 people who they said were approved by Israel to return to Gaza.
— With input from agencies
