Democratic Palestine : 18 (ص 22)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 18 (ص 22)
- المحتوى
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‘Israel’
Nom de Guerre for
US Military Base
Zionist determination to simultaneously maintain its high level of military preparedness, domestic
social benefits, rising real wages and private consumption, has produced a situation which the Zionist
leaders had hoped to avoid, i.e., the gradual narrowing of their economic, military and therefore political
margins. The economic downturn of the Zionist entity, and how it precipitated intensified US involvement
in the rectification process, was dealt with in Democratic Palestine no. 17. This article will focus on the
military aspect of the issue.
May 1986 marked the first anniversary of the launching of
the Israeli economic stabilization plan. There has been much
jubilation about the fall in inflation from the January-May
1985 monthly average of 11.3% to 1.5% in December 1985,!
and the decrease of the foreign debt: «For the first time since
1973, Israeli’s foreign debt dropped.»? However, these eco-
nomic feats cannot simply be attributed to the miraculous
effects of an austerity plan, which the US pressured the Israelis
into implementing in the first place. The immense efforts of US
think-tanks had more than a little to do with the Israeli eco-
nomic recovery - not to mention the substantial quantities of
financial aid disbursed under the strictest supervision.
With this task achieved, the situation is ready for focusing on
other equally important matters: «The day of reckoning for
Israel’s economy is at hand; that day for its-military policy
cannot be more than a few years off.»
The development of imperialism has inevitably brought
about the increasing orientation of industry towards arms
production. ‘Israel’ presents an extreme case of this pheno-
menon. The dominance of its military industry has become so
great that a staggering proportion of the economy is devoted to
war. The Israeli defense industry is the second largest single
source of employment, involving 25% of the labor force.* In
his book A Changing Israel, Peter Grose describes the situation
as «a State within an industry - rather than vice verse.» For the
US, it is important to develop the economic muscle based in the
militarized Israeli industry, since its survival is imperative for
safeguarding imperialism’s interests in the region.
Until the early 1980s, US financial aid preserved an artificial
prosperity in a country whose economy was beginning to give
way to a multifaceted crisis. However, the traditional methods
of bailing ‘Israel’ out were no longer considered efficient
because their effect would not be lasting. Thus alternative
methods of aid had to be adopted, such as increasing US pur-
chase of Israeli-made goods, especially weaponry and hightech
systems for US military units, as well as integrating ‘Israel’
more closely in the imperialist military. complex, by focusing
on hightech equipment. This would provide a means of bolste-
ring the Israeli economy while circumventing the normal US
budgetary process, thus serving to diffuse some of the domestic
discontent with Reagan’s «profligate defense program.» It
would moreover ensure that measures to strengthen the Israeli
economy do not weaken its military establishment or under-
mine its ability to function as a strike force in the Middle East.
It would also help manage the Israeli debt burden and mone-
tary reserves, so that the recovery plan is not capsized by
financial disturbances.
A new era has begun for ‘Israel’, sponsored by its most
faithful guardian, whereby an economic and military overhaul
is seen by the imperialist forces as the best way to impose a
political situation suited to serve their interests.
Under the terms of the 1984 memorandum of agreement
between the US and ‘Israel’, obstacles to reciprocal defense
trade have been removed. The agreement allows the US
Defense Department to waive customs duties on items being
22
sold to the US armed services. The five-year plan also provides
for operational and technical exchange leading towards
understanding of military requirements and their technological
solutions. The go-ahead for significant purchases of Israeli-
made military equipment has already been given by the Pen-
tagon. «Israel can only survive over the long run by compeiing
in the international arms market.»
STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
The strategic cooperation agreement signed between the US
and ‘Israel’ in November 1983 is a revival of the agreement
between Reagan and Menachem Begin in September 1981.
(The latter was temporarily suspended by the US due to Israeli
annexation of the Golan Heights. The period after 1983 has
witnessed the most active manifestation of this
Strategic alliance ever. Well-placed, senior officials of both
governments have repeatedly asserted how relations were at
«an all time high» or «iron-clad». Reagan, in a speech on
March 13, 1984, to the Young Leadership Conference of the
United Jewish Appeal, called the strategic alliance «The first
such formal arrangement between the US and _ Israel.»
Proponents of the ‘Israel first? school of thought were on the
loose in the bourgeois media. Despite all the behind-the-scenes
squabbling over how to resolve the Israeli economic woes,
there was never any dispute about the necessity of maintaining
the military superiority of ‘Israel’. «There has been no
basic disagreement between Washington and (Israel) on the
military side...»’ «Even as we... work with Israel on its eco-
nomic program, we... went ahead with a major increase in our
security assistance for Israel.»® Thus, in the span of two years,
Reagan’s Administration has accelerated the process of for-
tifying its own position in the Middle East. «As various crises
have rocked the Middle East... steps have been taken to
improve the U.S. ability to fight in that region... The Reagan
Administration has accelerated the pace of these improve-
ments»!
The strategic cooperation between the US and ‘Israel’ is a
broad program which encompasses, among many other things,
the following:
1. Coordination of objectives, strategies and tactics.
2. Prepositioning of US military equipment, ammunition and
fuel in ‘Israel’ for possible use in a regional crisis.
3. Medical support; arrangements for US use of Israeli hospi-
tals in an emergency. (‘Israel’ and the US have conducted joint
medical exercises where US helicopters took ‘wounded’ US
Navy personnel from a Sixth Fleet vessel to the Hadassah hos-
pital. Facilities for US ‘folding hospitals’ which can accomo-
date up to 4,000 beds are provided by ‘Israel’. This triples the
medical capacity of the US forces in the Middle East.)
4. The use of Haifa as a port facility for the US Sixth Fleet.
(US Congressman Jack Kemp went so far as to state: «I view
(Israel) in... the same framework as a naval base.»!
5. Tactical airfields: US Air Force use of Israeli runways and - هو جزء من
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