Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 30)
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- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 30)
- المحتوى
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ZIonism’s
This is the concluding part of the study written by Steve Goldfield entitled «The Israeli Role in the United
States Global Strategy». We began the first part of this study in «Democratic Palestirie» no.4.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica has not had an army since 1948. With Israeli
assistance the country is now getting one. Israelis are training
antiguerilla units of the Costa Rican National Guard in Costa
Rica ** while one hundred Costa Ricans are being trained in
Israel.*°9
On February 14, 1983, Jack Anderson reported a multi-
million dollar U.S.-Israeli «land development» project to buy up
«land along the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border, clearing roads
through the wilderness and moving in thousands of
settlers...The U.S. Agency for International Development will
ask Congress for $10 million to finance the settlement for the
first year. Israel will provide the technical expertise presumably
based on its experience with settlements in the West Bank
area». Anderson went on, «The Costa Rican border settle-
ment, combined with the military buildup in Honduras, would
create a giant strategic pincers physically isolating Nicaragua
by land».**° Dial Torgerson of the Los Angeles Times reported
a much more ambitious ($240 million) proposal in the border
area in a story filed just before he was killed.2*'
Israeli military and economic relations with Costa Rica
began in February 1982, when President Luis Alberto Monge
was elected. Monge stated he preferred «the assistance of
Israel in matters of security to that of others». In November
1982, Ha’aretz reported Israel would build another of its elec-
tronic fences this time on the border between Costa Rica and
Nicaragua. Israel and Costa Rica also have extensive and
growing economic ties. Ignacio Klich wrote in Le Monde Dip-
lomatique in February of 1983, «Madame Olsen (the Costa
Rican ambassador in Israel) has revealed that Mr. Monge had
been introduced, during his visit to the U.S., te the American
Jewish Committee and officials of B'nai B'rith, who promised
him support in its current negotiations with 170 American
Banks about the rescheduling of of its debt» .742 Costa Rica has
been the first Latin American country to break ranks and send
its ambassador back to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.2*3 As a token
of gratitude for this gesture, U.S. Zionists contributed half a
million dollars to lay train tracks for a route paralleling and com-
peting with the Panama Canal.2“4
Mexico
In 1975 Mexico bought five Arava short-take-off-and-land-
ing transports. A small group of Mexican pilots and mechanics
went to Israel for training**° Mexico has a $20 million assembly
plant for the Arava transport aircraft at Merida, where IAI pro-
vides technical assistance and hold 10 percent control.2*6
Mexico also provides Israel with about 40 percent of its oil
imports?” and guarantees increased shipments in an
emergency.*“8 The United States, incidentally, also guaran-
tees Israeli oil supplies by agreement.?*9
U.S. Aid to Israel
Israel is by far the largest recipient of U.S. military and
economic aid, even without counting the conveniently «forgot-
ten» loans which range between half and one billion dollars
each year*° ($750 million out of $1.7 billion in fiscal year
1983).*°' According to a General Accounting Office (GAO)
study released August 24, 1982, from 1974 to 1982 Israel
received $22.5 billion in U.S. aid, $2.7 billion in 1982.79 If an
additional $700 million requested for 1984 is approved, the fis-
cal year 1984 total will be $3.2 billion and the «total transfer of
U.S. resources to Israel» from official tax-deductible sources
will reach $5 billion.2°? In the first year of their Lebanese inva-
sion, the Israelis spent about $2.5 billion. (The official figure is
$1.2 billion.)?°4
30
Currently, the United States is increasing aid to repiace
ammunition and tanks used up in Lebanon. This was revealed
in a censored report from the General Accounting Office on.
U.S. aid to Israel.25> The CIA, in the uncensored version, esti-
mated that the U.S. would be paying for half the Israeli defense
budget. The United States paid 37 percent of the Israeli
defense budget in the fiscal year 1982.75 The report gives U.S.
aid to Israel, from 1948 to 1983, as $25 billion and as $29 billion
through 1984.*°” Even these figures, which are low because
they ignore a variety of forms of indirect aid, are much higher
than those normally referred to by the U.S. government. For
instance, the U.S. handed over as an outright gift $172 million
in excess construction material used to rebuild Israeli air bases - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 6
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