The United States and Israel publicly disclosed differences regarding raising the combat capability of the 60 F-15 warplanes being deliverd to Saudi Arabia but Washington and Jerusalem are continuing consultations and a decision has not yet been reached.
This was among the topics Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir told reporters last Friday they had discussed during their three-hour meeting at the State Department.
The issue of improving the F-15s was heightened last Thursday night when eight members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee delivered a message to President Reogan asking him not to make the deliveries of the additional refueling tanks and bomb racks Saudi Arabia has requested for the F-15s. Haig said that this matter was discussed “at length” but
that “no decision has been made on this issue.” He added “there is an ongoing dialogue which will continue.”
Clearly reluctant to discuss the issue publicly, Shamir was asked two questions before he said “We have explained clearly our position,” and that Israel “opposes” the delivery of the F-15 improvements. Haig then followed up by saying that the matter is “in a process of consultation. Clearly there are differences as anticipated and we hope to work them out.”
It was understood that the meaning the sale to Saudi Arabia would have on the Mideast balance of power was further discussed during the meeting between Shamir and Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger at the Pentagon Friday.
The Senators’ letter to Reagan was initiated by Senators Alan Cranston (D. Cal.) and Joseph Biden (D. Del.). Although the eight signers did not constitute a majority of the 17-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at least five other Senators were reported as definiately supportive of the opposition to the sale. Sen. Edward Zorinsky (D. Neb.) refused to sign it because it was not strong enough in its opposition, his office told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The other four felt reportedly that they did not want to reflect to the President their opposition in writing.
Besides Cranston and Biden, Senators signing the letter were Christopher Dodd (D. Conn.) John Glenn (D. Ohio), Paul Sarbanes (D.Md.) Paul Tsongas (D.Mass.) Claiborne Pell (D.R. I.) and Larry Pressler (R.S.D.).
INTIMATE AND FRANK DISCUSSIONS
In his talks with Shamir, Haig told reporters “these discussions, I am happy to report, were intimate and frank and involved far-ranging matters of mutual concern.” Shamir, agreeing with Haig’s description, said “We analyzed the common issues in the relations between the United States and Israel.”
While the U.S. is expected to comply with Saudi Arabia’s request for extra equipment for its F-15s, it is also considering Israel’s requests for additional military equipment to maintain the Israeli-Arab arms balance, a scaling down of Israel’s financial indebtedness to the U.S. and co-production rights for military equipment and other manufactured products to aid Israel’s economy.
Haig said “nothing firm” was decided on the resumption of the Egyptian-Israeli talks on the West Bank and Gaza and that the possible visits of Premier Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat to Washington were “in a process of consultation.”
Haig also said that he and Shamir included in their discussion “American support for Israel in the economic sector.” Haig said “those talks barely got started.” This was Haig’s response on Israel’s financial indebtedness to the United States and possible forgiveness of part of that debt.
It was mode known Friday that the foreign aid budget will allocate the same sums for Israel in the coming fiscal year starting next October as for the current year: $1.4 billion in military aid and $785 million in economic assistance.
Haig also said that a U.S. official, whom he did not identify, will go to the Middle East this coming week for preliminary discussions with Israel and Egypt on a multi-national force in the Sinai with regard to return by Israel to Egypt of the last portion of the Sinai in 1982.
When a reporter asked about the European initiative toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, which will be on the agenda when British and French officials come here for separate meetings this week, Haig said “we would hope anything our European partners would do on the Middle East would be consistent with and reinforce the ongoing process which is underway.”
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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.
