AL QUDS, Feb 10: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has asked the US to pay 800 million dollars in aid promised when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Ha’aretz daily reported on Sunday.

The money was promised by former president Bill Clinton to help build and maintain a security zone along the northern border, but the US Congress never approved the expenditure.

Sharon asked US President George Bush for the money when he was in Washington on Thursday. He also asked Bush to speed up payment of regular aid due to have arrived in late 2001.

EU, US FALL OUT:Ariel Sharon came home from Washington after failing to secure the US boycott of Yasser Arafat he was seeking, but US support for his isolation of the Palestinian leader has driven a wedge between the United States and Europe.