Al-Quds city, July 11, SPA -- Israel is asking the United States for$US2.2 billion (euro1.84 billion) in additional aid to helpfund its upcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and partsof the West Bank, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres saidMonday. Peres said some of the money would be used for removingsettlers and their belongings, and the rest would be spenton developing the Galilee and Negev Desert regions forresettlement. "Part of it is for the disengagement (from Gaza and fourWest Bank settlements), where Israel is spending a lot ofmoney anyway," Peres said at the start of a meeting withinternational Mideast envoy James Wolfensohn and EuropeanUnion foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "Then...we haveto develop the Negev and the Galilee, which are the onlyalternatives to these territories." The Haaretz newspaper said the aid request would bedelivered Monday in Washington at a meeting betweendelegates from the Israeli Finance Ministry and the officeof Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and an American team headedby Elliott Abrams, the deputy National Security Adviser. Israel is already the largest recipient of U.S. support,getting an annual $2.3 billion (euro1.9 billion) inmilitary and other aid. Solana and Wolfensohn are holding a series of talks withIsraeli and Palestinian officials on the Gaza pullout,which is due to begin in mid-August, The Associated Press reported.--SPA1109 Local Time 0809 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/276018