Hadassah
Foreign Operations Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2002.
The House bill included the following pro-Israel provisions:
Aid to Israel: The bill includes the major signal of U.S. support for Israel, $2.04 billion in military aid and $720 million in financial assistance. This is the next voluntary step in the reduction of Israel’s foreign aid allocation, from $3 billion to $2.4 billion.
Middle East Peace Commitments Act: If the Palestinian Authority does not comply with its commitments to renounce violence, act against terrorism, and promote peace, the United States government will impose one or more of the following sanctions:
* Denial of visas to PLO and Palestinian authority officials
* Downgrade in status of PLO office in the United States
* Designate the PLO, or one or more of its constituent groups (including Fatah and Tanzim) or groups operating as arms of the Palestinian Authority (including Force 17) as a foreign terrorist organization
This provision also includes presidential waiver authority, to provide the President the flexibility to declare that the Palestinians are not in compliance with their commitments, while allowing the continuation of the U.S. Administration’s work to facilitate negotiations toward a final peace agreement.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent and The Magen David Adom: U.S. administrative assistance shall not be provided to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross unless the President determines that the Mogen David Adom Society is participating in the activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
State Department Travel Warning: This non-binding resolution does not compel the State Department to act, but is an important statement that: “The Secretary of State should revise the travel warning for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza as appropriate based on which areas present the highest threat to American citizens in the region and which areas may be visited safely.”.