US to give aid to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Efraim Sneh has expressed his confidence that the US congress will change its mind and agree to give an aid estimated at US $1.9 billion to Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan with the fall of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

Sneh told the Israeli daily Haartez is an interview issued on Tuesday that there is "no reason that requires the Congress' refusal to provide such an aid, according to the Wye River agreement which was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority more than one week ago."

The Israeli official added that leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties at the US Congress had asserted to him that this problem will be sorted out within weeks and that those leaders explained to him that this matter "is not of concern to the two parties. It is rather a matter of conflict between the Congress and the US President Bill Clinton."

Sneh had visited Washington earlier in the week to convince the congress leaders to give the aid.