U.S. Providing Rapid Assistance to Palestinians

The United States is responding quickly to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of emergency humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians, said State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher.

Speaking at the State Department daily press briefing in Washington April 22, Boucher said the United States wants to see that the assistance "gets to the people who need it as soon as possible."

Boucher said that more access is being provided to aid workers for their relief efforts, but called upon the Israeli government to "allow the maximum possible access." Complete text

The timetable for withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had given President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to withdrawal from Jenin and from Nablus, and not from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or from Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer clarified April 22 in response to a reporter's question.

"That timetable is a timetable that I announced when the President spoke to Prime Minister Sharon -- and the President discussed in the Oval Office -- which was withdrawal from Jenin within days, and Nablus within a week," Fleischer said. "And as we've seen, that's what the Israelis did." Complete text

Defense Department Report: Philippines, Afghanistan

Approximately 300 U.S. Navy Seabees and Marine Corps engineers have begun arriving in the southern Philippine island-province of Basilan for construction projects to bolster counterterrorism efforts in the region, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says.

They will offer training, assistance and advice to Philippine military personnel on construction projects that are primarily military in nature, but will be of some benefit to the civilian population in the province, Air Force General Richard Myers said at a Pentagon briefing April 22. Complete text

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