A key US congressional panel on Wednesday passed a foreign aid bill providing for stiff sanctions against the Palestine Liberation Organization if it fails to curb "anti-Israeli violence," according to AFP.
The $15.2 billion bill, approved by the Subcommittee on Foreign Operation of the House of Representatives, contains language that requires the president to determine whether the PLO is complying with its promise to renounce terrorism and take measures against instigators of violence, said the agency.
If the White House cannot make such a determination, it must either close the Palestinian information office in Washington, designate the PLO, or one of its constituent groups, as a terrorist organization, or limit humanitarian assistance to the West Bank and Gaza.
The subcommittee acted on the bill on the day when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited Capital Hill, asking US lawmakers to show solidarity with Israel in the face of a Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation that has been sending tremors through the region since last September.
The conflict has already claimed more than 620 lives, the overwhelming majority Palestinian. Amnesty International has put the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers at nearly 100 - almost equal to the Israelis' entire death toll. While the Israeli military has reported over 600 Israeli wounded, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society puts the number of Palestinians wounded at over 14,000.
"We want violence to end one hundred percent and not just one hundred percent efforts to end the violence," Sharon told Israeli television from Washington, according to AFP.
He also praised the administration of President George W. Bush for its unwavering support of Israel.
In a display of solidarity with the Jewish state, the subcommittee approved $2.04 billion in military assistance to it for fiscal 2002, which begins October 1.
But economic aid to Israel was cut by $120 million compared with the fiscal 2001 level, to $720 million.
The economic package for Egypt was whittled down by $40 million, to $655 million, while military aid was preserved at last year's $1.3 billion level.
Military-economic aid to Jordan, an important Arab ally of the United States, was maintained at $225 million.
"I am pleased that our subcommittee has developed this bill in a bipartisan fashion that stays within our allocation of $15.2 billion," said Republican Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona told AFP - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
