Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 16)
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- Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 16)
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New US—Israeli _
Memo of Understanding
In the last week of June, Israeli Defense Minister Rabin visited
Washington D.C., in an attempt to confront the Palestinian uprising
from the safe heights of increased military cooperation with US im-
perialism.
While in Washington D.C., Rabin
met with top US officials, including
President Reagan and Secretary of
State Shultz. Two topics featured most
prominently on his agenda. The first
was convincing US public opinion of
the legitimacy of the brutal methods
being used by the Israeli state in its at-
tempt to suppress the Palestinian
uprising. The second was to draw at-
tention to the supposed ‘threat’ posed
by the missiles China is selling to
Saudi Arabia and Syria, as well as the
Soviet missiles in Syria, Libya and Iraq.
Rabin worked to persuade Reagan in
particular that this phenomenon posed
a threat to US as well as Israeli interests
in the region.
Despite all appearances, this second
point is also intimately connected with
the uprising in that ‘Israel’ desperately
needs to draw attention to an issue
outside Palestine, and far removed
from what is going on there, specifical-
ly Israeli inability to deal with the
Palestinian uprising.
Judging from US officials’
statements during and after Rabin’s
visit, Rabin did not succeed in getting
the Reagan Administration to publicly
endorse the fascist measures being used
against unarmed Palestinians.
However, he did succeed in obtaining a
new memorandum of understanding
which provides for more and
qualitatively advanced US-Israeli
military cooperation. This shows that
US verbal criticism of Israeli human
rights violations is little more than
crocodile tears, designed as a cover-up
for consistent US support to Israeli ag-
gression. Even if the US begins to take
this issue more seriously in order to
polish up the Israelis’ image, the
Strategic advantages of military
cooperation with ‘Israel’ remain the
16
overriding concern of the US ad-
ministration. The Reagan Administra-
tion had prefaced Rabin’s visit by veto-
ing the Security Council resolution
raised in mid-April, condemning Israeli
handling of the uprising.
NEW MISSILES FOR
‘ISRAEL’ — NEW INPUT
FOR SDI
Meeting with Rabin, Reagan con-
curred on the question of the «Arab
missile threat.» On June 28th, he issued
a statement that he was troubled by the
«ominous new military developments in
the area» - referring to missiles and
chemical weapons. This set the stage
for the signing of an agreement for col-
laboration on the development of a new
surface-to-air, antiballistic missile - the
Arrow - for ‘Israel’ with the US fun-
ding 80% of the development costs.
The agreement was signed by David
Ivry, director of the Israeli Defense
Ministry and Lt. Gen. James
Abrahamson, director of the US
Strategic Defense Initiative Organiza-
tion (Star Wars). US Secretary of
Defense Carlucci stated that the Arrow
missile would «make a contribution to
our SDI program, and has applications
as well in other areas.» The connection
between the new Israeli missile and the
SDI program is another evidence that
this program is not simply a crazy idea
or a matter of research alone. Rather it
is a framework for developing new
types of offensive weapons for the US
and its allies. There is, in fact, no
reason to think that ‘Israel’ wants the
new missile for its deterrent value
alone. In June, Israeli Chief-of-Staff
Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron publicly stated
that ‘Israel’ would strike Syrian missile
sites if the surface-to-surface missiles
Damascus is reportedly buying from
China, are deployed.
In view of the bolstered US—Israeli
military cooperation, Reagan’s
hypocrisy is doubly obvious when he
calls for international efforts to stop
the spread of arms and nuclear arms.
Meanwhile, the US obstructed the UN’s
third session which was dedicated to
disarmament and to examining the ex-
tent of the Zionist nuclear arsenal. Also
Shultz, who brags about his ‘peace’ in-
itiative in the Middle East, was quick to
term the new US—Israeli military
agreement an essential contribution to
deterring war, adding, «If you are sit-
ting in Israel and surrounded by short-
range ballistic missiles, you will realize
the great importance of learning how to
defend yourself...» In fact it was ap-
parent that Shultz’s greatest worry on
his last visit to the Zionist state was how
to rescue the Israelis from the dilemma
caused by the Palestinian uprising.
MORE US AID
Less than two weeks after Rabin left
the USA, the Senate adopted the fiscal
year 1989 foreign aid bill that main-
tained ‘Israel’ as the main recipient of
US aid worldwide, to the tune of 1.2
billion dollars in economic aid and 1.8
billion in military assistance. At the
same time, the first publicly announ-
ced, full-scale US-Israeli navy
maneuvers began with the arrival of the
6th Fleet’s USS Eisenhower in Haifa
port. The exercise included mock com-
bat and the refueling of this aircraft
carrier by Israeli naval vessels. On
August 23rd, the Israeli navy an-
nounced plans for a 1.2 billion dollar,
US-financed program to build a new
generation of missile boats and two
submarines, adding to the current
Israeli fleet of 28 missile-carrying
boats. Everything points to the con-
tinuation of Israeli state terrorism on
land, air and sea, even as the Palesti-
nian uprising challenges the viability of
this prime US base in the Middle East.@ - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 30
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