US pledges record $38bn military aid to Israel over next 10 years

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US pledges record $38bn military aid to Israel over next 10 years

• Deal represents largest batch of US military assistance to any country ever
• Israel’s ability to spend part of funds on Israeli products to be phased out

Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday 13 September 2016 20.35 BST

The US will will give the Israeli military $38bn over the next decade in what Washington described as the biggest package of military assistance in its history.

The military deal which will be signed in Washington on Wednesday includes an estimated $5bn for missile defence. Under the previous deal, the US provided Israel with $30bn over a 10-year period, although the actual funds delivered over that time period were about $35bn as Israel sought additional funds from the US Congress. Congress had previously funded Israel’s missile defence spending.

Under the new deal, Israel would not be able to solicit extra money from Capitol Hill. In other conditions placed on the new memorandum of understanding, Israel would no longer be allowed to spend over a quarter of the military aid on home-produced weaponry, and would instead be required the full amount on US arms. Nor would it be able to spend any of the aid on fuel for its armed forces.

Disagreements over these limitations delayed completion of the new deal, which has been under negotiation for 10 months.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/13/us-israel-aid-38-billion-record-military-assistance

[pangaia]

1. Just think how many public school music programs that wold pay for.

[Little Tich]

3. It's still less than the cost of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinians.

The staggering economic cost of occupation: The Palestinian economy would be at least twice as large without Israeli occupation, UNCTAD report says
Source: UNCTAD, 06 September 2016

The economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory could easily produce twice the gross domestic product (GDP) it generates now, while unemployment and poverty could recede significantly, according to this year's report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people.

Surveying a number of studies, the report reveals the channels through which occupation deprives the Palestinian people of their human right to development and hollows out the Palestinian economy.

Chief among these are the confiscation of Palestinian land, water and other natural resources; loss of policy space; restrictions on the movement of people and goods; destruction of assets and the productive base; expansion of Israeli settlements; fragmentation of domestic markets; separation from international markets and forced dependence on the Israeli economy.

Moreover, a continuous process of de-agriculturalization and de-industrialization has deformed the structure of the Palestinian economy, the report maintains.

From 1975-2014, the share of the tradable goods sector (agriculture and industry) in GDP dropped by half, from 37 per cent to 18 per cent, while its contribution to employment decreased from 47 per cent to 23 per cent.

Area C, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of West Bank land and more than 66 per cent of its grazing land, is not

It is estimated that the occupation of Area C costs the Palestinian economy the equivalent of 35 per cent of GDP ($4.4 billion in 2015).

Read more: http://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=1317

[shira]

4. Nonsense from the UN assuming Palestinian leadership is interested in economy....

...more than fighting Israel and squandering billions in aid on their war machine, tunnels, corruption, etc.

Not a word in this UN document about any of that.

[Little Tich]

5. The UNCTAD report reads like a report from a disaster area in a third world country.

It's really gloomy, and I think it's accurate. I don't think the UNCTAD is lying.

From the report:

13. Despite the repeated withholding of Palestinian clearance revenue (see paragraph 16) by Israel since 1994, the heavy fiscal cost of occupation and the reorientation of public expenditure to meet emergency and humanitarian needs, PNA has managed to consistently narrow the deficit-to-GDP ratio. This suggests that its fiscal management is relatively sound and that the chronic fiscal crisis is mainly caused by occupation. However, this is not recognized by PNA development partners, who continue to implicitly, and at times explicitly, suggest that PNA reforms alone can achieve fiscal sustainability.

14. UNCTAD analysis of the Palestinian fiscal crisis continues to set the agenda of the
Palestinian economic policy discourse. Pioneering research on Palestinian fiscal leakage to
Israel by UNCTAD (2011a; 2012; 2014a) has been most recently cited by the International
Monetary Fund (2016), Office of the Quartet Representative (2016) and World Bank
(2016a). These three agencies formed a task force to study this problem and facilitate a
resolution. UNCTAD work also led to the commencement of negotiations between Israel
and PNA on this problem. An agreement was reached whereby Israel will transfer
$128 million to cover some of the losses accumulated over the years by the Authority.
Furthermore, the Palestinian fiscal leakage was a prominent topic at the April 2016 meeting
of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (see http://www.lacs.ps/article.aspx?id=6), and its chair’s
summary emphasized the great potential in Israel and PNA closing fiscal leakages and
addressing revenue losses under the current arrangements (Ad Hoc Liaison Committee,
2016).

15. The combination of stricter occupation and declining donor aid constrain economic
growth and may roll back PNA achievements in building the institutions required for a
well-functioning economy to underpin a viable future State. Fiscal compression, under
conditions of worsening occupation, necessitated by declining donor aid, could lead to
painful and unpredictable consequences.

http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/app2016d1_en.pdf

[shira]

6. And not a word on the Palestinian war machine & corruption leading to billions....

....of dollars squandered.

Money that could have been used to bolster the economy, education, etc.

Total propaganda.

[Little Tich]

7. Do you have any figures to go with that accusation? n/t

[shira]

8. Sure, here's a good article from 2014. One of many...

Terrorists & Kleptocrats: How Corruption is Eating the Palestinians Alive
http://www.thetower.org/article/terrorists-kleptocrats-how-corruption-is-eating-the-palestinians-alive/

Your sources simply will not criticize PA leadership. Either due to intimidation, support of the PA, hatred of Israel...

That no hint of any of this makes it into those articles you cite goes to show how ridiculously biased & disingenuous your sources are.

[Little Tich]

9. I suppose that the assertions of a neocon think-tank is all the proof you need.

Meanwhile, Palestinian investigations into the matter give a some what different picture - the occupation is the root problem, and while corruption is a serious issue, the occupation promotes and exarcerbates Palestinian corruption. It fits nicely with the UNCTAD report that describes a process of "de-industrialization", and the World Bank report that describes near stagnation and erosion of the productive economy in Palestine.

Eighth Annual Report, Integrity and Combating Corruption
Source: The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability (AMAN), 2015

Executive summary
The Israeli occupation: an environment obstructing anti-corruption efforts
The continued Israeli occupation through its extremist policies against the Palestinian people in the West Bank (WB) and Gaza Strip (GS) aims to uproot Palestinians from their land. To achieve its racist goals, Israel is constantly making life impossible to bear for the indigenous people (Palestinians), hoping to take their place. Its practices include but are not limited to the Judaisation of Jerusalem (i.e., aiming to have a “pure” Jewish Jerusalem), control over Palestinian border crossings, and clamping down on Palestinian rights and economy. One example is its continuous exploitation of control of granting travel permissions for Palestinian businessmen and women to travel as well as work licenses. These policies and practices provided opportunities for a number of Israeli officials to take bribes in exchange for services mentioned. A number of these bribes was revealed in areas of civil and land services. Moreover, Israeli occupation’s policies led to the outbreak of the phenomenon of individual acts by Palestinian youth and children at the beginning of October 2015, and are continuing until today.

The continuation of the internal division; a reinforcement factor for corruption
Failure of all attempts to end the division as disputes continued between the PA in the WB and Hamas in the GS, where both parties constantly exchanged mutual accusations, blaming one another for the failure of the reconciliation process. This contributed to reinforce behavior and actions of corruption such as politicizing public services employment; monopoly over appointment in high-ranking positions for loyalists of the two main parties, in the WB and the GS; in addition to the continuation of waste of public funds as a result of paying salaries for employees on strike in the GS.

The Palestinian Legislative Council remains defunct
This imbalance led to the absence of official accountability, and left decisions solely in the hands of the executive authority, hence providing a favorable environment for corruption.

The continuous siege imposed on the GS opened the way for the spread of petty bribery in order to obtain services
Stalled reconstruction efforts, and obstruction by the Israeli occupation entry of construction material needed for reconstruction was reflected in daily lives of Palestinians, epitomized by the decline in opportunities to obtain services related to travel and or medical treatment referrals, which require obtaining permits. This provided opportunities for certain forms of corruption such as bribery, wasta and nepotism.

Read more: https://www.aman-palestine.org/data/itemfiles/f86f49da1e937975db98fd3e3957822a.pdf

[shira]

10. It's well known hundreds of millions of USD go to pay terrorist families...

No mention of that either.

Evidence is all over google. But all you do here is deny facts.

[Little Tich]

11. So why do you think that none of these reports don't mention these supposed hundreds of millions of

$$$ to the families of terrorists as a major cause in the very likely financial collapse of the PA? Isn't it even remotely possible that the occupation is the problem, and that the Palestinians can't jump through hoops for the US and Israel much longer?

[shira]

12. Answered in #8 above. Do you not think hundreds of millions USD to terrorist families....

....was kinda important to include?

See, if they mentioned that, it would turn their argument against Israel on its face - invalidating the main point they're trying to make.