Wednesday, July 25 2:01 PM SGT

US House warns Palestinians, approves AIDS, anti-drug funds

WASHINGTON, July 25 (AFP) -

The US House of Representatives delivered a stern warning to the Palestine Liberation Organization late Tuesday, as it overwhelmingly approved a bill calling for sanctions against it, if it fails to honor a negotiated ceasefire accord.

The 15.2-billion-dollar foreign aid bill, passed by the House by 381 votes to 46, contains language that requires President George W. Bush to determine whether the PLO is taking steps to curb violence.

If he cannot make such a determination, he must either: close the Palestinian information office in Washington; or designate the PLO, or one of its constituent groups, a terrorist organization; or limit assistance to the West Bank and Gaza.

"I believe this provision strikes the middle ground and sends the right message to the Palestinians and their leaders, and that is 'Comply with your commitments regarding renunciation of terror and violence, and then no sanctions will be imposed'," said Republican Jim Kolbe, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.

The vote came as violence continued unabated between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the ceasefire agreement brokered by Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet.

More than 50 people have been killed in the region since the ceasefire accord was announced on June 13.

Vowing to stand by Israel, the House approved 2.04 billion dollars in military assistance to the Jewish state for fiscal 2002, a 60-million-dollar increase over the previous year, which ends on September 30.

But economic aid to Israel was cut by 120 million dollars, to 720 million dollars, compared to the fiscal 2001 level, in line with a mutually agreed policy of reducing economic assistance in light of Israel's economic success.

Despite criticism from some members, military aid to Egypt was preserved at last year's 1.3 billion-dollar level. But economic assistance to Cairo was pared down by 40 million dollars, to 655 million.

Military-economic aid to Jordan, a key Arab ally of the United States, was maintained at 225 million dollars.

The House also gave a major boost to anti-AIDS programs, appropriating a total of 554 million dollars to fight the epidemic.

"The United States has a responsibility to lead the way on everything from treatment to prevention, to caring for AIDS orphans, to crafting a coordinated global strategy," said Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey.

However, the House was not in the mood to satisfy the president's every request.

The so-called Andean Counterdrug Initiative, a program designed to help Latin American countries fight narco-cartels and improve their economies, came under the fiercest attack.

The 676-million-dollar initiative, already pared down by House appropriators, suffered another blow when lawmakers voted to withhold 65 million dollars from it until the administration fully accounts for a recent shootdown of a US missionary plane over Peru.

US national Veronica Bowers and her seven-month old daughter, Charity, were killed on April 20, when a US-monitored Peruvian Air Force jet opened fire on their small aircraft after mistaking it for a drug flight.

Assistance programs for states of the former Soviet Union were approved 43 million dollars below Bush's request, at 767 million.

Members of the Senate appropriation committee were expected to begin work on a similar version of the bill later in the week.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001