Sorry, I must have misunderstood my bank statement, which said the $5.00 is a "NON-[my bankname] ATM TRANSACTION FEE: $5.00" So I see now it must have been charged by my own US bank, and not the foreign bank; it wasn't clear from the statement.

But the basic point is the same: whether the charge comes from the foreign bank or mine, it's there. And from looking at bank web sites, I find that all banks charge for using ATM's for withdrawing money if the ATM isn't either part of that bank's network or a specific designated partner network. (Sometimes this varies by the type of account you have, or you get a very limted number number of free ATM withdrawals per month at certain partner bank ATMs.)

And the basic question is the same: is there a US bank at which I can get an account, which will let me make an unlimited number of withdrawals from that account (not a credit card cash advance) via ATMs in foreign countries all over the world, without having to pay an ATM fee whoever charges it, and which will give me the foreign currency at interbank rates without my being charged a commission, conversion fee, or any other fee by either bank involved or by anyone else? That would be the equivalent to the technique I described using Amex checks. (Or at least the technique which I found works in Greece, and I was asking if it would work in other countries too.)