"The US has offered to increase Israel's military might if it will stop building on disputed land!" "In effect giving it a bigger stick to beat Palestinians with when it starts building again!" 14 November 2010

A man and woman sit on a couch reading the newspaper and a magazine. The man comments that the 'US has offered to increase Israel's military might if it will stop building on disputed land' and the woman replies 'In effect giving it a bigger stick to beat Palestinians with when it starts building again!' Refers to the news that the United States is to significantly increase the amount of military equipment held in Israel as part of a move to upgrade security ties between the two allies - approved by the US Congress, the Israeli correspondent of Defense News reports, an extra 400-million-dollars worth of smart bombs and other precision weaponry and equipment will be moved to Israel over the next two years. The value of US military equipment stockpiled in Israel rise to one billion dollars in 2011, with another 200 million to be added in 2012, the paper said. Such equipment can be used by US forces throughout the world but also by the host country, under the terms of the US foreign aid law governing reserve stockpiles for allies. Israel made use of the stockpile during the 2006 war with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia - a conflict which killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and around 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers, the Haaretz daily reported.

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