Haaretz
Sivan 19, 5765
Israel has decided to
comply with all of Washington's demands in a bid to end the crisis with
the United States over arms exports.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz last week agreed to comply with the
Americans' demands regarding the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) deal with
China and changes in the supervision of Israel's arms exports.
On
Friday, Sharon instructed an Israeli delegation leaving Sunday for
Washington to agree to American demands. The delegation is expected to
draft a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on weapons exports with the
United States.
Israel hopes this move will end the U.S. sanctions
against it, which have been in place for half a year and have caused grave
damage to Israel's defense industries and the work relations between the
Defense Ministry and the Pentagon.
Among other things, the
Americans severed their work relations with Defense Ministry Director
General Major General Amos Yaron. Yaron said he intends to retire within
the next few months.
The export crisis with the U.S. erupted at the
end of last year following Washington's demand that Israel not return to
China spare parts of Harpy UAVs. The Israeli-manufactured UAVs had been
sold to China and were sent here for repairs. This conflict is one of the
gravest ever to erupt between the two countries in recent
years.
The decision to accept all of the U.S.'s demands means that
once again Israel will have to violate an agreement to supply defense
equipment to China, five years after it canceled the Falcon airplane
deal.
China is expected to demand compensation fees for Israel's
breaking of the agreement, as it did after Israel revoked the Falcon deal.
According to the present deal, Israel had undertaken to supply China over
the years with spare parts for UAVs made by the Israel Aircraft
Industries.
Israel has been holding on to the UAV parts in
question at Washington's demand. Now these parts will not be returned to
China. It also appears that the Chinese will avoid making large-scale
agreements with Israel in the future.
The U.S. says this is not an
isolated incident and that it reflects a pattern. They cite the Falcon
airplane affair and before that, the sale of advanced Lavi airplane
technology and air-to-air missiles to China.
The Americans have
demanded recently that the government deal directly with decisions on arms
sales to China. Friends of Israel in Congress and the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee have criticized its management of the crisis and
urged it to avoid exacerbating the conflict.
One of the U.S.'s
central demands, which Israel has accepted, is the introduction of
fundamental amendments into the legislation dealing with arms sales,
including regulations for dual civil-military use equipment.
By so
doing Israel will be implementing the international Wassenaar Arrangement
on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and
Technologies of 1996. More than 30 states have adopted the
arrangement.
Mofaz intends to advise Washington that he will
appoint a senior defense official to coordinate the supervision issues and
present new proposals. This official is Brigadier General (res.) Uzi
Eilam, formerly the director of the Atomic Energy Committee and head of
the directorate of defense research and development in the Defense
Ministry.