T H E D E T R OI T J E W IS H N E W S
israe
The on-again-off-
again cut in aid to
Israel as part of a
plan to provide
assistance for
Jordan is on.
JAMES D. BESSER
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
I
he formula worked out in
weeks of negotiations will
involve giving Israel its
full $1.2 billion in dbo-
nomic aid; Israel will then re-
turn $50 million to the U.S.
treasury for inclusion in the
$250 million Jordan fund.
Egypt, the second-biggest recip-
ient of U.S. aid, will do the same;
the rest of the fund will come
from Japan and the European
nations, although the details of
that part of the plan have not
been worked out.
Negotiators still are trying to
Binyamin
Netanyahu
hopes to
avoid future
aid cuts.
craft a package of compensation
for Israel that would soften the
monetary blow.
The Netanyahu government
had agreed to the cut earlier in
the spring, but wanted it set up
to avoid any precedent for future
aid cutting, and to prevent the
impression that it was intended
to punish Israel for the failing
Mideast peace process.
Pro-Israel groups were busy
spinning the cut as purely
voluntary. Administration
sources say that was true — up
to a point. But they also said that
the administration was deter-
mined to find the extra money for
Jordan, and that the Israel-Egypt
aid was the only place to find it.
"The administration was
adamant that this had to
happen," said an official with
a major pro-Israel group
in Washington. "But they were
willing to work hard with
the Israelis to make sure it
wasn't seen as a signal about
U.S.-Israeli relations. The Israelis
also were very cooperative
but very tough in the negotia-
tions."