Report: US Dollars Funding Israeli Settlements

In contrast to Washington's public call for a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, there are reports suggesting that private money coming from the US is funding the expansion.

Each year millions of dollars made in Jewish-run US activities pour into Israel to help fund settlements on Palestinian land, where Israeli forces have forced the native Arabs out of their properties in their thousands.

According to The guardian, Hawaiian Gardens' charity bingo hall --in California-- is one of the main supporters of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which has donated tens of millions of dollars over the past 20 years to the Israeli government.

The British daily says the games' profits make their way into Israel through a Foundation owned by American Jewish doctor and millionaire Irving Moskowitz.

The Israeli-run charity assures those who spent their money on bingo --mostly Latino residents of Hawaiian Gardens-- that their dollars are destined for a good cause while the real winners and losers live many thousands of miles away.

While the bingo operation has received severe criticism from opponents of Jewish settlement activity, Moskowitz is planning to build a much bigger bingo hall in the area, which will increase the flow of cash.

Rabbis serving the Hawaiian Gardens area accuse Moskowitz of "taking millions from the poorest town in California and sending it for Israeli settlement development", Jewish religious leaders in California have repeatedly called for a block on the flow of funds to the settlers.

The American Jewish doctor --best known for anti-Palestinian sentiments-- has also dedicated millions of dollars to influential American groups and think tanks backing Israel's hawkish government. Moskowitz opposes Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, describing it as a "slide toward concessions, surrender, and Israeli suicide".

Palestinians have repeatedly said that they would resume the long stalled peace talks only after Tel Aviv stops settlement activity in the West Bank, which was captured by Israel during 1967 war.

While the US, along with the international community, wants Israel to stop all settlement activity in the occupied territory, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refused to heed the call.

Israel says it wants to continue its settlement activities on Palestinian land due to what it calls satisfying "natural growth” of the Israeli population.