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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Biden: Fund P.A. police
A senior Senate Democrat called on the Bush administration to immediately fund the re-equipping of the Palestinian Authority police.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said he proposed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Gen. William Ward, the top U.S. security envoy to the region, receive $10-12 million for non-lethal equipment for P.A. police, citing the need for walkie-talkies as an example.
“This is not the time for the U.S. to be detached,” Biden, the ranking member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations committee, said to applause Wednesday at Hadassah’s annual convention. “We don’t have a sufficient sense of urgency about what needs to be done today to increase the chances of disengagement, which needs to be seen as the reasonable, sensible approach. We should be doing a lot more than we are.”
Congress restricts P.A. aid
The U.S. House of Representatives attached a further restriction to assistance to the Palestinian Authority.
The amendment that Rep. Shelley Berkeley (D-Nev.) proposed Wednesday to the State Department authorization bill would break up funding to the Palestinian Authority on a quarterly rather than annual basis, allowing Congress to withhold money if the Palestinian Authority fails to account for how the money is spent.
The amendment was mostly symbolic: Congress currently bans any money from reaching the Palestinian Authority directly. The $50 million that President Bush recently authorized for the Palestinian Authority is not subject to congressional oversight, and will be administered through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Berkeley’s amendment passed, though 100 members of Congress — including eight Jewish Democrats — voted against it.
U.S. to help Israel secure water
The U.S. and Israel agreed to work together to improve the security of Israel’s water resources.
The agreement was signed by Israel’s water commissioner, Shimon Tal, and Judith Ayers, the assistant administrator for international affairs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Areas of cooperation will include the development of risk-assessment models in water-related matters, response mechanisms for water-related incidents and large-scale purification methods.
“Safeguarding our water supply is vital for both the well-being of our citizens and the preservation of our environment,” Ayers said. “The statement of intent we have signed will foster greater collaboration between our nations to help protect this precious resource from unintentional or intentional contamination.”
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 9:46 PM Permanent Link
 
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