After several days of direct talks in Washington, capped by a
three-hour one-on-one session, Prime Minister Barak of Israel
and President Clinton issued a joint statement indicating
broad cooperation in many areas and significant specific
agreements on important issues that span virtually the entire
gamut of Israel-U.S. relations.
Among the areas that were addressed were: a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) about restructuring U.S. bilateral
assistance to Israel. The MOU will state "the United States'
intention to sustain its annual military assistance to
Israel, and incrementally increase its level by one-third
over the next decade to a level of $2.4 billion." Also, the
MOU will provide for a gradual phaseout of U.S. economic aid
to Israel, reflecting the latter's economic maturity.
The statement spoke of strengthening existing defense
channels of coordination and reorganizing them under a
Defense Policy Advisory Group (DPAG) to meet the new
challenges of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), missile
proliferation and terror. This Group will "coordinate and
plan the cooperation between the U.S. Department of Defense
and the Israeli Ministry of Defense."
The statement went on to affirm the U.S. intention to provide
Israel with $1.2 billion to carry out the Wye agreements, and
also to provide the Palestinian Authority with $400 million
and Jordan with $300 million.
Additionally, the U.S. promised Israel a third Arrow anti-
missile defense battery, and that cooperation on development
of new technologies and systems in this area will continue
and increase. Specifically, the leaders will establish a
Strategic Policy Planning Group (SPPG), "composed of senior
representatives of the relevant national security entities of
both countries." This group will develop and submit
recommendations to bolster Israel's indigenous defense and
deterrent capabilities, as well as the bilateral cooperation.
This group will report every four months.
There is more. The statement said that Israel and the U.S.
will work together on managing and developing the region's
water resources. Also there will be increased cooperation in
the area of space exploration, including a specific notation
that "that an Israeli astronaut and payload of Israeli
experiments would fly on a shuttle mission in the year
2000."
The statement is clearly a stunning achievement for Barak,
indicating that the coolness in the relationship between
Israel and the U.S. is over. Observers have noted since the
trilateral discussions between Israel, the United States, and
the Palestinian Authority at the Wye Conference Center, that
the Palestinians seem to have a specific strategic objective
to become close to the U.S., and that they enjoyed
considerable success in meeting their goal. Without shunting
the Palestinians aside, Barak seems to have reasserted
Israel's place as the senior partner of the United States. It
is certainly an impressive tactical victory, but it remains
to be seen how the Palestinians and the other Arab states
will react. It is Barak's obvious goal to create a public
momentum for peace, and this he seems to have done very
effectively.
The statement did not refer to the 15-month goal expressed
earlier by Barak for concluding the negotiations for peace in
the Middle East. In any case, President Clinton said that he
does not plan to set timetables for progress in the Middle
East peace process, and Prime Minister Ehud Barak said his
plan for a 15-month "framework" should not be interpreted as
a deadline.
Barak said that he believes 15 months should be enough to
know "whether we have a breakthrough and are really going to
put an end to the conflict or, alternatively, and I hope this
will not be the case, whether we are stuck once again."
In was obvious that the talk of short term progress was at
least in part motivated by the desire of the U.S. President
to leave an agreement for peace in the Middle East as part of
his presidential legacy when he leaves office some 18 months
from now.
Clinton, asked what he thought about proposals to link the
implementation of Wye with permanent status talks, said he
believed that anything Israel and the Palestinian Authority
agreed on would be good for the peace process, as far as he
is concerned.
Clinton, asked by Ha'aretz whether he thought there
was a conflict between Washington's being so closely allied
with Israel and its purporting to be a fair mediator between
Israel and the PA, said he believes the American relevance to
the negotiations actually derives from its close with
Israel.
"I believe -- and some of you may think this is naive -- I
think the most important ingredient for success for an
Israeli prime minister is being able to set aside the
accumulated burdens of the past and to see the [Palestinians]
with respect," Clinton said. He said he had witnessed that
understanding in Barak.
The two leaders were also asked about reports that Syria has
instructed terror organizations to stop attacking Israel. "If
Syria really asked the terror organizations to reduce their
level of activity, if that is true, it is of course good for
us," said Barak.
Clinton said he believes "Assad has a golden opportunity to
resume the peace process."
UPI's Helen Thomas asked Barak about Israel's use of
administrative detention for Palestinians. Barak did not
reply by noting that such procedures are used against Jews as
well as Arabs, but sidestepped the question and said, "We
respect the Palestinians and understand the suffering on both
sides of the conflict." He stressed that his main desire is
to stay focused on the larger goal of the peace process as a
means of solving subsidiary problems.
Responding to a question on convicted spy Jonathan Pollard,
Barak said that Israel would like to see him released but
that talking about the matter in public was counter-
productive. The question "should be dealt with between
leaders," he said.
