Talks about the “modernization of Israel’s Army,” as officials here said Washington describes the requests for armaments from the US, are progressing satisfactorily, according to well-informed sources here. Reports from foreign news media that the State Department is applying pressure to delay the supply of Phantom warplanes and spread them out over as long a period as possible were not endorsed by the sources.
According to the foreign reports, the US appears to be ready to supply Israel with as many Skyhawks as it has demanded and on a timetable suitable to Israel, but the American negotiators appear to be stalling over the Phantoms under State Department pressure. For the present, Israel has nothing to complain about on this score, the Jerusalem sources said.
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