President. as my colleagues will recall. after Congress authorized the $400 million Israeli loan guarantee program in May 1990. the State Department began preparing for the negotiations with Israel over the use of these funds. Political and other considerations delayed the start of actual negotiations for 4 months. The delays prompted the Israeli Foreign Minister to compromise with the Bush administration and draft a letter stating Israels policy not to direct Soviet immigrants to settle in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Additionally. the Israeli Government provided specific information to the State Department on its building plans for housing the large volume of Jewish immigrants crossing into Israel. including information that no new housing settlements had been started in the West Bank. However. it was not until April 9. 1991nearly 1 year after congressional authorizationthat the loan guarantees were transferred to the Israeli Ministry of Finance. I am pleased that the Bush administration has concurred in the principle of providing loan guarantees to Israel.
Keywords matched
immigrants