The United States may soon supply Israel with 120 combat aircraft–40 Phantom jets and 80 of the slower but more versatile Skyhawks, according to an article in the latest issue of Time magazine. The article attributed this development to “Knowledgeable sources.”
According to the Time report, President Nixon agreed to the deal following his meeting last month with Premier Golda Meir, thereby reversing the previous American position that the Mideast military forces were in balance. (In Washington today, State Department officials would neither confirm nor deny the Time report.)
The magazine article stated that 40 planes over a year’s time was mentioned as a schedule, but that actual negotiations would await the return to Washington of Israel’s Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin returned to Washington this week and conferred yesterday with Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Joseph J. Sisco. (Sources in Jerusalem said the subject of US military aid was discussed at the talks but it was not known whether an agreement on terms or timetables was reached.)
According to Time, Nixon’s promise to deliver more warplanes softened Israel’s position on negotiations with Egypt for an interim agreement to reopen the Suez Canal. “Obvious but unmentioned is the US intention to tie the flow of shipments to Israeli cooperation at the negotiating table,” Time said. “If Israel becomes recalcitrant again, the Phantoms may suddenly stop coming.”
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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.
