President Reagan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir ended two days of talks in the White House today with Reagan announcing U.S. agreement for several steps sought by Israel, including the creation of a joint U.S.-Israeli political-military group which would work toward closer cooperation between the two countries.
An Israeli reporter noted that Shamir and Defense Minister Moshe Arens would as a result of the visit be having a happy Chanukah when they leave Washington tomorrow on the eve of the eight-day celebration. “I wish to once again thank the President and the people of the United States for their support of Israel,” Shamir said after today’s two-hour meeting at the White House.
“We reconfirm the long-standing bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries and express our determination to strengthen and develop them in the cause of our mutual interest, ” Reagan said.
The President, who called Israel a “close friend and ally,” announced the steps to be taken, including the joint political military group which Shamir said would have its first meeting in January. The meeting will be in Washington and then will alternate with Jerusalem on a semi-annual basis.
Reagan said the committee would discuss such things as combined planning, joint exercises and the stockpiling of U.S. military equipment in Israel. A senior Administration official said later that this list was “illustrative but not exclusive.”
Reagan stressed that the “priority attention” by the committee would be given “to the threat to our mutual security by increased Soviet involvement in the Middle East, ” He also spoke of the “common concern with the Soviet presence and arms buildup in Syria.”
A senior Administration official who briefed reporters later stressed that there were no plans for a joint Israel-U.S. attack on Syria and that the joint committee could not be seen as a threat to any Arab country.
Reagan also said the U.S. will provide more economic and military aid to Israel. Shamir said he hoped the U.S. would take into account “the great sacrifices made by Israel” in the peace process by abandoning its oil wells in Sinai and by having to build new military installations to replace the ones left in the Sinai.
The senior official said that no agreement has been made on the aid figure although the U.S. does want to increase the percentage of the aid given as a grant rather than as a loan. This was still being discussed by Israel and the U.S. at the State Department this afternoon.
Another agreement announced by Reagan was to allow the Israelis to use the $350 million Congress voted in military aid funds for developing its Lavie jet fighter plane in the U.S. and $250 million for development in Israel. Israel will also be allowed to spend $200 million of foreign military aid funds in Israel for its Sinai redeployment projects. It is usually required that foreign military aid funds be spent in the U.S. Reagan said that Israel will also be allowed to bid on projects to supply the U.S. military forces.
Reagan said that Israel and the U.S. will also discuss setting up a free trade zone. The Administration official explained that this would be similar to the one Israel will have with the European Economic Community in 1989 and will allow Israeli products to be sold in the U.S. and U.S. products to be sold in Israel duty free.
One decision not announced by Reagan but revealed by the senior official was that the U.S. will resume delivery of cluster bomb artillery shells to Israel once an agreement is reached that contains both a definition and guarantee against violation of their use. The deliveries were suspended in July, 1982, a month after Israel invaded Lebanon.
On Lebanon, Reagan said “We affirmed our commonly held goals of a sovereign, independent Lebanon free of all foreign forces and of security for Israel’s northern borders.” He said that “we agree that every effort must be made to expedite”the May 17 Israeli-Lebanese agreement.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
