Re: Screening: _People and the Land_ (Thursday, Nov. 29)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> *****   The point of Tom Hayes' 1997 documentary, "People and the
> Land," is clear: what Israelis are doing to Palestinians is an
> American issue.  It should be of concern not only to Muslim
> Americans, or Arab Americans, or Jewish Americans, but to all
> tax-paying Americans.
>
> The film begins with a shot panning across the legend written in
> stone on the Internal Revenue Service building: "Taxes are what we
> pay for a civilized society."  Then it explains that
> $77,726,000,000,000 of those tax dollars (the total figure at the
> moment Hayes edited the film and a sum that increases by $15 million
> per day) have been granted to a country that is carrying out a most
> uncivilized occupation. . . .
>
>
> Hmmm.  $78 trillion.
>
> Total Federal tax revenue, 1947-1997:  $22 trillion.  Hmmm.
>
> I am concerned.
>
> mbs

Didn't count the zeros in the quoted passage before pasting it.
Blame it on _Washington Report on the Middle East Affairs_!

Here's the correct (& more recent) figures:

The National Lawyers Guild Delegation to the Occupied Palestinian
Territories and Israel (see
<http://www.nlg.org/committees/International/middle_east_delegation_report.htm>)
reports:

*****  Since 1976, Israel has been the leading recipient of foreign
assistance from the United States.  From 1949 through fiscal year
2000, the United States has given Israel over 81 billion dollars in
foreign aid, making Israel the largest cumulative recipient of U.S.
foreign assistance since World War II.

It is important to note, however, that $81 billion is a conservative
number for U.S. foreign assistance to Israel.  The figure, $81
billion, does not include Department of Defense allocations for joint
defense projects such as, for example, the $200 million allocated in
past years for Israel's development of the Merkava tank.  Moreover,
the figure does not reflect imputed interest Israel receives from
early disbursement of U.S. foreign assistance.

U.S. foreign assistance to Israel is unique because repayment on
loans to Israel is waived and the United States has pledged in the
Cranston Amendment to provide Israel with economic assistance not
less than the amount Israel owes the United States for previous
loans.  A more accurate total of cumulative U.S. foreign assistance
to Israel may be closer to $91 billion.   *****
--
Yoshie

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