Middle East; it is financed by imperialism without being economically exploited by it . This has always been the case in the past: imperialism used Israel for its political purposes and paid for this by economic support. Oscar Gass, an American economist who at one time acted as an economic adviser to the Israeli government, recently wrote : [5] 'What is unique in this development process . . . is the factor of capital inflow. . . . During the 17 years 1949 -- 65 Israel received $6 billion more of imports of goods and services than she exported. For the 21 years 1948 -- 68, the import surplus would be in excess of 7 billion dollars. This means an excess of some $2650 per person during the 21 years for every person who lived in Israel (within the pre-June 1967 borders) at the end of 1968. And of this supply from abroad . . . only about 30 per cent came to Israel under conditions which call for a return outflow of dividends, interest or capital. This is a circumstance without parallel elsewhere, and it severely limits the significance of Israel's economic development as an example to other countries.' Seventy per cent of this $6 billion deficit was covered by 'net unilateral capital transfers', which were not subject to conditions governing returns on capital or payment of dividends. They consisted of donations raised by the United Jewish Appeal, reparations from the German government and grants by the us government.