NEWS Supervised Apartment Living for the Elderly Loan Guarantee By U.S. Now Valid, Says Moda'i DAVID FRIEDMAN Special to The Jewish News T he Bush administra- tion has agreed to issue guarantees for $400 million in loans for Israel, so that it can provide housing for Soviet Jewish immigrants, Israeli Finance Minister Yitzhak Moda'i said Sept. 25. "The guarantee of $400 million is now valid," Mr. Moda'i told the Jewish Tele- graphic Agency after meetings with Deputy Sec- retary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady. An Israeli Embassy official said the final details were to be worked out during meetings in New York this week between Secretary of State James Baker and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy. Although Congress ap- proved the loan guarantees last spring, the administra- tion has held up final ap- proval until it receives assurances that the money will not be used to help Soviet Jews settle in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Mr. Eagleburger assured Mr. Moda'i that the United States would do its best to help Israel overcome its economic difficulties. "We are aware of Israel's needs and hope to find a way" of meeting them, he was quoted by the embassy offi- cial as saying. Mr. Moda'i said he discussed with administra- tion officials both Israel's new economic plan and the economic problems currently facing the United States. "We did not go into specifics," he said. "We discussed the overall situa- tion." Mr. Moda'i denied making any specific requests for U.S. assistance. "I didn't come this time to ask for anything, just to clarify posi- tions," he said. "You don't come off a visit and take all the goodies and come back home," Mr. Moda'i said. "We would rather have it on a con- tinuous basis than a one- time deal." The finance minister ap- parently was referring to his proposal that the United States cancel Israel's $3.7 billion military debt. He voiced the idea in Israel after President Bush asked . Congress to forgive Egypt's $7.1 military debt because of Cairo's leadership in mustering Arab opposition to Iraq in the Persian Gulf crisis. Israel's total debt to the United States is $4.5 billion, but this includes economic aid as well as military assis- tance. Forgiveness would mean an annual savings of $400 million a year for Israel in interest and principle payments. But Mr. Moda'i did not br- ing up this request in his meetings with the ad- ministration officials. He re- portedly had been warned by lawmakers and Jewish leaders that Congress would be unlikely to approve cancellation of the Israeli debt and that it might turn down forgiveness of the Egyptian debt, as well, be- cause of budgetary con- straints. But Mr. Moda'i told JTA last week that he still be- lieves any forgiveness of the Egyptian debt has to be coupled with a similar move for Israel because aid for Egypt has been linked to as- sistance provided to Israel since the 1978 Camp David Accords. "Whoever has to make the decision will maintain the balance which was introduc- ed after Camp David," he said. "Whatever is done with the Egyptian loan will be done with the Israeli." Mr. Eagleburger also assured Mr. Moda'i that the United States and Israel "stand together" against the threat posed by Iraq, the embassy official said. Mr. Moda'i reported that the United States will con- tinue to preposition military supplies in Israel, which to- taled $100 million during the current fiscal year. Shevardnadze Warns Of War United Nations (JTA) — Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze warned last week of an out- break of war in the Middle East at "any moment." In an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Shevardnadze continued to advocate a diplomatic solu- tion to the Persian Gulf crisis. But he appeared to indicate that if diplomatic negotiations failed, force would be justified. 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