US makes $9bn in loan guarantees

A total US$9bn (€8bn) in US loan guarantees to Israel became available today with a formal announcement that didn't mention penalties for the Jewish state's construction of a controversial security barrier.

The guarantees, part of a $US10bn (€8.85bn) aid package for Israel, will be made through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), according to a notice published in the Federal Register.

The notice didn't mention the possibility of penalties regarding the security barrier, but officials said today's announcement would not necessarily include such information. They said the penalties were still being considered, particularly in light of Israel's decision to push ahead with the barrier.

US officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the US might withhold portions of the guarantees in the amount the Jewish state spends on barrier's construction east of the 1967 Green Line division between Israel and the West Bank.

Israel yesterday announced it would accelerate the building of the barrier in a bid to prevent attacks by Palestinian extremists.

Israeli public radio reported that Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the completion of the barrier within the next six months to prevent infiltrations by Palestinian suicide bombers from the West Bank.