[antiwar-van] Israel wants U.S. to partly fund new checkpoints

[hanna]

Is this how the US is respecting and enforcing the ruling of the
International Court of Justice ICJ on the Separation Wall?

The ruling stated:

"159. Given the character and the importance of the rights and obligations
involved, the Court is of the view that all States are under an obligation
not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of
the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East
Jerusalem. They are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance
in maintaining the situation created by such construction.  It is also for
all States, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international
law, to see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of
the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to
self-determination is brought to an end.  In addition, all the States
parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 are under an obligation, while
respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to ensure
compliance by Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that
Convention."

Financing Israeli Apartheid and subsidizing the construction of walls around
the Palestinians Ghettoes is interpreted as "increas(ing) freedom of
movement and economic growth in Palestinian areas"

What kind of a sick mind that interprets slavery as freedom, and racism as
an act of charity?

Hanna Kawas


http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/526034.html

Last Update: 12/01/2005 04:58

Israel wants U.S. to partly fund new checkpoints

By Reuters

Israel is asking the United States to help pay for a $450 million proposal
to set up new crossing points and upgrade others along its separation fence,
U.S. sources briefed on the plan said on Tuesday.

Israeli officials began briefing the administration and key congressional
leaders this week on the tentative proposal, which calls for Washington to
contribute an estimated $180 million, with Israel paying the rest. Israel
receives nearly $3 billion a year in U.S. aid.

Sources described the $450 million proposal as a draft and said the cost
estimates could change.

According to people briefed on the proposal, U.S. funding would help cover
the cost of high-tech terminals in the fence designed to speed the
inspection of Palestinian people and cargo.

Advocates say the goal is to increase freedom of movement and economic
growth in Palestinian areas, as part of an international push to shore up
newly-elected Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and aid Israel's
withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.

"In recent months, Israel and the (Bush) administration have been in ongoing
conversations about the ways in which to strengthen the Palestinian economy
and improve the humanitarian situation on the ground," an Israeli diplomat
said.

The proposal comes as the Bush administration is assembling a new aid
package for the Palestinians expected to total as much as $200 million to
help bolster Abbas.

Bush spoke to Abbas on Monday, promising U.S. assistance and inviting him to
visit the White House after years of shunning Yasser Arafat, the late
Palestinian leader, as an obstacle to peace.

The new aid for the Palestinians would come on top of the financial
assistance already provided by the United States, either through the United
Nations or through non-governmental organizations.

The U.S. Congress gives $75 million a year to support programs in the West
Bank and Gaza, mostly through international aid groups.

The State Department estimated total U.S. assistance, including funding that
goes through the United Nations, at nearly $200 million.

The World Bank said last month that the Palestinians could expect an extra
$500 million a year in vital aid if violence stopped and there was progress
toward peace with Israel.

The Bush administration may include the additional money for the
Palestinians and the Israelis in an $80 billion to $100 billion supplemental
spending package for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The package is expected to be sent to Congress in February or March.

Bush included $1 billion in direct military assistance for Israel and $9
billion in loan guarantees in his 2003 Iraq war supplemental.

Bush strongly supports Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all
8,000 settlers from Gaza and a few hundred of the 230,000 in the West Bank
later this year under the disengagement plan.




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