International Aid and Image Assistance

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A U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) advertising campaign, coinciding with Laura Bush's Middle East visit last week and designed to improve America's image among Palestinians, lacked a Palestinian spokesperson. "None of the Palestinian entertainers or athletes approached by the agency would serve as 'goodwill ambassador'," so an "Israeli Arab soccer player" was recruited. Billboards and TV ads highlight USAID education and water projects in the Palestinian territories, in line with recent Council on Foreign Relations suggestions to make U.S. aid to Muslim countries more visible. But USAID "cancelled plans to contract a firm to develop an integrated communications plan for its initiative to foster public-private alliances in its overseas work," the Global Development Alliance. No reason was given for canceling the plan to promote "USAID's successes."