movement founded in 1897 to establish a Jewish homeland free from anti-Semitic persecution. Twenty years later, in the Belfour Declaration, the British government agreed in principle to a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Following the tragedy of the Holocaust, Britain and the United Nations decided to partition Palestine and create the Jewish state. The United States was one of the first nations to officially recognize the new Israel. American support was an outgrowth of U.S. cultural and religious ties to Jews, the belief that the new Israeli government would be democratic, and the need for a bulwark friendly nation in the region to facilitate the spread of U.S. spheres of influence. In rather short order, the United States became the principal economic and military ally of Israel. Thus, all that Israel represented and did in the region was associated by the Arab neighbors as actions by the United States as well. Those who hated Israel also hated the United States.
The United States was originally the economic and military lifeline of Israel. Without American support, the State of Israel would have collapsed. Today, the United States remains the central economic and military supporter of Israel, although Israel has developed many of its own resources. The United States provides Israel with about $1.2 billion of direct economic assistance, roughly $900 per family, and additional military assistance. This makes Israel the top recipient of U.S. aid in the world. The $1.2 billion U.S. payment to the Israeli Treasury does two things. It provides Israel with the funds to repay interest and principal on old loans to the United States incurred before the assistance program was converted to a grant basis, and it provides Israeli taxpayers with some relief, allowing the government to tax less or spend more. The United States provides an additional $75 million a year to the Palestinians, most of which has been diverte
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