Israel Asks U.S. for $10 Billion in Additional Aid over Five Years

Israel has asked the United States for an additional $10 billion in aid over the next five years.

The request was made by Finance Minister Yitzhak Moda’i at a meeting Tuesday with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, according to an Israel Radio-Israel Defense Force Radio joint services report.

In making the request, Moda’i cited Israel’s immigrant absorption burden and costs incurred as a result of the Persian Gulf conflict, which has made Israel a target of Iraqi missile attacks.

Moda’i told reporters that Israel could raise additional funds it needed from other sources.

Eagleburger and his team of State Depart- ment and Pentagon aides had their second meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Tuesday. The Americans arrived in Israel on Saturday and there was no word when they planned to leave.

Treasury officials said Israel had lost $1 billion from the slump in tourism caused by the Persian Gulf crisis and another billion in lost production as workers stayed home during the last week of missile attacks.

A Treasury breakdown released Tuesday quantified missile damage in Tel Aviv and its environs at $30 million. On Monday, Income Tax Commissioner Moshe Gavish told the Knesset Finance Committee that the damage totaled $10 million.

But neither his nor the Treasury’s figures included the severe damage reported from Tuesday evening’s SCUD missile attack.

Israeli sources expressed confidence that all U.S. defense supplies currently “in the pipeline” or under consideration will be expedited in the wake of Eagleburger’s talks here.

The talks with Shamir were believed to have focused on military coordination in the event Israel does intervene in the fighting against Iraq, the joint radio report said. Few details were made available by either side.