The United States government has extended its $4 billion package of loan guarantees to Israel for another four-year period. The signing came during a meeting of the US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group meeting in Washington. Although some have suggested the timing, 12-days before the presidential election, is suspect, the loan guarantees have been supported by both Democratic and Republican administrations since 1992 when the first guarantee of $10 billion went into effect. The amount extended is the remainder available from the present package of $9 billion in guarantees was initiated in 2003 as the Second Intifada [the period of unbridled Palestinian violence against Israel] raged.