ABSTRACT
A number of American-sponsored private voluntary organizations (PVOs) were active on the West Bank and in Gaza prior to the Six Day War, largely in welfare activities involving the distribution of US food commodities. When the West Bank and Gaza came under Israeli occupation as a result of the Six Day War of June 1967, the official US economic presence was small and in large part indistinguishable from private charitable activites. The most striking aspect about the US government-funded aid program on the West Bank and Gaza is the large number of interested parties involved, all of whom can influence both the character of the program and the implementation process. When the aid program was initiated, it may have appeared to Palestinian leaders on the West Bank and Gaza as an important new card in the evolving US thrust to draw Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians into a US-managed peace process with Israel.
