Jerusalem Post  | 6-15-05 | ARIEH O'SULLIVAN AND NINA GILBERT
 

Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz vowed Tuesday that the deepening crisis between Israel and the United States regarding the sale of advanced weapons to China would be settled quietly. He also promised that the solution would be satisfactory to all sides.

"The relationship with the Americans is very important for Israel. I believe that a solution will be found in a discreet manner. I propose we allow the quiet avenues to do their task," Halutz told military reporters Tuesday.

Asked if the crisis has caused the IDF any damage, Halutz said: "The IDF is dealing with the situation at this time. I think that it will come to a solution that will be satisfactory to everyone." Earlier Tuesday, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz (Likud) characterized US-Israel defense ties as being "in a crisis" that was seriously harming Israel.

Steinitz called the demand by the US to oust senior defense figures as "illegitimate" and having an "element of humiliation." He was speaking to Israel Radio from Paris en route to head a committee delegation for talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Steinitz said the US had expanded its ban on Israel's sales from China to India and Singapore, and described such demands as "illegitimate." He said that since neither India nor Singapore were direct rivals to the US, there was a theory that the issue at hand was competition over defense exports. "This is unacceptable to Israel," he said.

Steinitz said that even when considering the great importance of Israel's friendship with the US, with its economic, military and diplomatic support, Israel must "retain its independence." He expressed hope that the two countries could find a mechanism for sales to military rivals. "We don't have to agree to everything," he said of the demands to remove Amos Yaron, director-general of the Defense Ministry, and Yehiel Horev, head of the security branch at the ministry.

US officials have argued that Washington was opposed to China having these advanced weapons because they could be used against American forces or its Taiwan ally in a possible future showdown.

However, experts assert that the real reason behind the American campaign lies in the multibillion-dollar arms market and the increasingly higher stake Israeli industries have in it, often at the expense of US companies.

On Monday night, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said, "This is certainly an issue that is being discussed between the United States and Israel, and we have made our concerns about the sale and transfer of defense equipment and technology to China known to Israel."

According to Whitman, "We continue also to raise concerns with our allies, our friends and partners and look for them to take responsible approaches to arms sales to China too. This is broader than just Israel."