The United States and Israel are discussing military and economic aid proposals for the 1987 fiscal year which begins next October 1, the State Department said today.
But State Department deputy spokesman Charles Redman refused to disclose the amount of aid under discussion. “We expect to have an agreement which takes into account both Israel’s aid requirements and U.S. budgetary restraints,” Redman said.
He would not comment on a report from Jerusalem today that Israel has requested $3.5 billion in economic assistance for the 1987 fiscal year. The report said the aid request was presented yesterday to Thomas Pickering, the U.S. Ambassador in Israel, by Israeli Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai.
Israel is receiving this year $1.2 billion in economic aid and another $1.8 billion in military aid, all of it as a grant. In addition, Israel is also receiving $750 million in emergency economic assistance to help it achieve its economic austerity program.
Pickering was quoted as saying that Israel has taken “painful steps” to revive its economy and noted that this is “an area in which the United States has done its part and will continue to.”
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