JERUSALEM - Financial aid: Top government officials are set to meet with U.S. officials early next week to put the final touches on an aid package worth at least USD 500 million (NIS 2.3 billion) to finance the Gaza disengagement program.
Most of the money would be used to develop the Galilee and Negev regions, and to absorb Gaza evacuees inside sovereign Israel.
Finance Minister Director GeneralYossi Bechar and Prime Minister's Office Director Ilan Cohen will outline the massive cost of the program in all areas, including military, for representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department and deputy national security advisors Eliot Abrams and Faryar Shirzad.
Current estimates put the total cost of the disengagement program at approximately NIS 8 billion (USD 1.75 billion), not including removal of destroyed homes, an issue that has yet to be agreed upon with the Palestinians.
The Israeli delegation will also test the waters to see if the U.S. might be willing to contribute more than the USD 500 million basic package to cover the economic damage Israel will suffer as a result of the pullout.
Without U.S. assistance, the pullout could push Israel's national debt to 4 percent, despite a commitment to the International Monetary Fund and the United States that the debt would not exceed the agreed upon credit limit.
Assuming Bechar and Cohen sew up the deal, Finance Ministry officials have revised their debt calculations for this fiscal year, and the debt is expected to reach 3.4 percent, instead of the 3 percent approved by the government.
First published: 10:29, 07.07.5