Quds city, July 11, SPA -- Israel is asking the United States for $US2.2 billion (euro1.84 billion) in additional aid to help fund its upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Monday. Peres said some of the money would be used for removing settlers and their belongings, and the rest would be spent on developing the Galilee and Negev Desert regions for resettlement. "Part of it is for the disengagement (from Gaza and four West Bank settlements), where Israel is spending a lot of money anyway," Peres said at the start of a meeting with international Mideast envoy James Wolfensohn and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "Then...we have to develop the Negev and the Galilee, which are the only alternatives to these territories." The Haaretz newspaper said the aid request would be delivered Monday in Washington at a meeting between delegates from the Israeli Finance Ministry and the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and an American team headed by Elliott Abrams, the deputy National Security Adviser. Israel is already the largest recipient of U.S. support, getting an annual $2.3 billion (euro1.9 billion) in military and other aid. Solana and Wolfensohn are holding a series of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on the Gaza pullout, which is due to begin in mid-August, The Associated Press reported.
