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US signs $30 billion defence pact with Israel
 JERUSALEM - The United States sealed a deal on Thursday to provide Israel with $30 billion in defence grants over the next decade, a 25 percent boost that Washington describes as strengthening a bulwark against Iran. At a signing ceremony in Jerusalem, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the United States would help Israel maintain a military advantage over foes ranging from Iran and Syria to their proxies in Lebanon and Palestinian territories.There is no question that, from an American point of view, the Middle East is a more dangerous region now even than it was 10 or 20 years ago and that Israel is facing a growing threat. Its immediate and its also long-term, Burns told reporters. The United States faces many of the same threats from the same organisations and countries as Israel does, and so we felt this was the right level of assistance. Burns said the new aid to Israel, which currently receives $2.4 billion in annual military grants, would not be conditioned on diplomatic progress or concessions though one of the major priorities for our government ... will be to help push forward a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States, Burns said, considers this $30 billion in assistance to Israel to be an investment in peace, in long-term peace -- peace cannot be made without strength. Burns and Fischer said the sides had not finalised details on what weaponry would be supplied to Israel under the new deal. Posted by: Steve White 2007-08-17 |
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