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a fund which will assist community and development organizations to finance income-generation projects in poor areas of Bogotá. In Ecuador, Corpomicro, a credit guarantee corporation, has contributed over $100,000 to a guarantee fund which will leverage funds from the banking sector for lowincome microentrepreneurs. Peru 2021, a private non-profit organization of young businesspersons committed to economic development, contributed $62,000 to implement an interinstitutional program for entrepreneurial development designed to support innovative small enterprise initiatives and

increase the awareness and involvement of the business sector in social and economic development initiatives in Peru.

In Argentina, the Inter-American Foundation executed a cooperative agreement with the Fundación Antorchas, a private, Argentinean Foundation, to capitalize a development fund that provides grants to community organizations working with disadvantaged youth. The Fundación Antorchas has contributed $100,000 to this endeavor. Additionally, as a result of this effort, another Argentinean organization, Fundación ARCOR, a cooperative foundation and leading food producer in Argentina, has embarked upon a similar philanthropic effort in cooperation with the Inter-American Foundation.

In Colombia, the Fundación Social, a non-profit public service organization of 12 private sector companies, has contributed .

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$450,000 through a cooperative agreement with the InterAmerican Foundation to create a Colombian Center for Philanthropy. The purpose of the Center for Philanthropy is to encourage the giving, volunteering, and not-for-profit initiatives that help strengthen communities and citizen participation.

In Venezuela, the Inter-American Foundation and Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) executed an agreement through which PDVSA has contributed $1.4 million to support a variety of worthy grassroots development projects in Venezuela. Building on this successful experience, the Inter-American Foundation is encouraging PDVSA to expand its contributions to grassroots development throughout the Andean region.

Mr.

Chairman, these are but a few examples of what can be accomplished. The Inter-American Foundation is also working successfully to leverage resources for grassroots development in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Central America. By engaging Latin Americans and Caribbeans in their own development, the InterAmerican Foundation also instills and promotes the wonderful American value of helping others to help themselves. It is this activism at the local, community level that will ensure that democratic values flourish and standards of living rise throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. This, Mr. Chairman, I believe to be in our national interest.

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In closing, Mr. Chairman, I would like to summarize the goals and objectives of the Inter-American Foundation's program. The InterAmerican Foundation will seek to mobilize local and international resources for grassroots development by working with local business, government, and development leaders to forge alliances that promote grassroots development activities designed to improve the quality of life of the poor by creating jobs, increasing incomes, and enhancing productivity. This will bring great credit to the American people and promote our national interests throughout the hemisphere.

Mr. Chairman, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for the guidance and insight which you have provided to the Inter-American Foundation.

Mr. Chairman, I would be delighted to answer any questions which you or the Members of this distinguished Committee might have for

me.

Thank you.

Mr. CALLAHAN. We agree that these programs especially in this hemisphere are needed. The administration seems to have forgotten that there are other countries in this hemisphere other than Haiti and all their money has been channeled towards Haiti.

We are going to have to make certain that this is not the case in this next fiscal year and that agencies such as yours and countries that you are helping have an opportunity to at least share in the limited amount of money that will be available. We thank you. Do you have any questions?

Mr. TORRES. I would like to raise a question to the Chairperson. Congratulations. There is a big responsibility to being the Chair of the Inter-American Foundation. I have followed their work very much during the years.

You mentioned in your testimony that you are doing work on the U.S.-Mexican border. Can you elaborate a little on what is happening there?

Ms. OTERO. Most of the efforts are to solve problems of underemployment and to address questions of environmental degradation. To this end, we are working with nongovernment organizations along the Tijuana border in order to help create income-generating activities and to help make these activities be ecologically sound because this is a very important issue.

In the coming year, we are hoping to work with more institutions from Tijuana to Matamoros to cover a longer area, emphasizing issues having to do with environmental concerns. We are working with the U.S. Council of Foundations in order to develop models of development along the border that will respect the environment and will also be sustainable over the long term. We are also working with the North American Development Bank in order to fund small sustainable income generating projects along the border that will enable us to protect the citizens on both sides of that border. Mr. TORRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. CALLAHAN. Thank you very much.

AIPAC

THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1996.

WITNESS

NEAL M. SHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Sher.

Mr. SHER. Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure to appear once again before this subcommittee, and I submit this testimony in strong support of the President's request for $3 billion in earmarked economic and military aid to Israel-that nation's lifeline and in support of the legislatively mandated terms under which this aid is provided. I also request that my entire testimony be entered into the record.

While I fully understand and appreciate the budgetary pressures under which you and the other appropriations subcommittee chairmen are operating, I strongly believe that this aid to Israel is vitally important to U.S. national security interests. It more than pays for itself in terms of overall benefits to the United States, and

has proven effective throughout the many years in advancing critical U.S. foreign policy goals. Furthermore, most of the funds spent on aid to Israel come right back to this country in the form of procurements from U.S. defense contractors or repayment of old military debts.

The world, unfortunately, has not become a safe place with the end of the Cold War. The Mideast in particular is one of the most dangerous areas, and yet one of the most important for United States interests.

Among the most critical U.S. security interests, and threats to them, are those that emanate from the Middle East. These include maintaining the free flow of Persian Gulf oil; preventing radical Mideastern states from acquiring weapons of mass destruction; preventing Mideast-originated international terrorism; containing the radical Islamic threat; promoting the Arab-Israeli peace process; and upholding core American values by supporting Israel as the sole democracy in the Middle East and as a haven for persecuted Jews from around the world; and expanding economic opportunities in the region.

All of these interests have been threatened during the last halfcentury and face serious threats into the future. Israel has been, and will continue to be, America's most reliable partner in promoting our interests and facing these threats. U.S. assistance remains the most effective means of enabling Israel to stay the course.

Indeed, although aid to Israel has lost, since 1986 over a third of its value because of inflation, the absolute amount of this aid is substantial. But it is comparatively one of the most cost-effective investments that the United States makes in support of its international security. At less than 3 percent of the costs of stationing and supporting U.S. troops in key areas of the world, aid to Israel helps protect vital American interests in the Middle East.

Just yesterday, Israel celebrated its 48th Independence Day. Quite an achievement.

The U.S. assistance program to Israel has been remarkably successful. It has had a critical impact on the security of the Jewish state as it continues to face myriad regional threats. It has helped and continues to help stabilize and strengthen a once fragile economy. It has helped and continues to help Israel absorb over half a million refugees since 1990, and has played a vital role in the development of the peace process.

Mr. Chairman, since I last testified before this subcommittee one year ago, there has been further remarkable progress in the quest for a lasting peace in the Middle East. Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo II Agreement under which Israel redeployed its troops, ahead of schedule, from the six largest West Bank cities. The Palestinians, for the first time in history, democratically elected their leadership and members of a self-governing Palestinian Council.

Considerable progress has also been made on the Jordanian track, with the completion of numerous bilateral agreements and joint projects on a range of issues, and perhaps most remarkably, the process has thus far withstood the tragic attempts by Hamas and other groups opposed to peace with Israel to derail the negotiations through terrorist attacks.

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