World IN BRIEF : ISRAEL : Aid or Settlements? Envoy Voices Worry

Israel’s ambassador to Washington said the Jewish state must choose between U.S. aid to absorb a wave of Soviet immigrants or more settlements in the occupied territories. Ambassador Zalman Shoval said the continued building of settlements--which the United States has condemned as an obstacle to Mideast peace--has made Israel’s efforts to obtain $10 billion in guaranteed housing loans difficult. “The question now is whether we can meet absorption and immigration needs if we cannot receive, for one reason or another, the aid we think we deserve from the United States,” Shoval told Israel Radio.