U.S. Promises More Aid for Israel After Groundbreaking in Har Homa

by Shawn L. Twing

The Clinton administration promised Israel hundreds of millions of dollars more in U.S. aid in the midst of an Israeli-inspired crisis in the peace process in April. This repeated a pattern that began last October when Israel was given $50 million in excess U.S. military hardware after it unilaterally opened an archeological tunnel adjacent to the Haram Al Sharif in Arab East Jerusalem, sparking riots in which 65 Palestinians and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Less than three weeks after Israeli bulldozers broke ground for the 6,500-unit Jewish-only Har Homa settlement at Jabal Abu Ghneim in March, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai met with U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen in Washington, DC. During their April 3 meeting, Cohen promised Mordechai more U.S. money for Israel's Arrow anti-tactical ballistic missile; increased funding for the Nautilus laser designed to protect Israel from Katyusha rocket attacks; continuing appropriations for anti-terrorism equipment; and an agreement in principle on developing a $300 million U.S. stockpile of weapons and ammunition to be ready at a moment's notice for Israel's use. During the defense minister's visit, the Clinton administration also gave the go-ahead for Israel's purchase of $200 million worth of UH-60 Blackhawk transport helicopters with 34 spare engines, and committed the United States to joint three-nation military maneuvers with Turkey and Israel.

Reports of the astonishing Mordechai-Cohen breakfast meeting at the Pentagon appeared in Defense News, the Washington Times and the Jerusalem Post. The detailed list of U.S. aid promises includes:

•Arrow missile: Pending congressional approval, which is all but assured for the Arrow project, the Pentagon favors up to a 25 percent increase in the current $200 million over five years appropriated for the Arrow Deployability Program approved by President Clinton last year. In March, Israeli officials floated a proposal for an "Arrow Beyond 2000" program for integrated testing in Israel of the Arrow and the American-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile, Defense News reported. The Israeli officials hoped that the U.S. government would fund up to $70 million of the project's costs. Apparently the Pentagon has committed itself to at least an additional $50 million for the Arrow, after already investing more than $650 million in the project since it began in 1988 (see the October/November 1995 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, pp. 12, 106-107). Paradoxically, despite a successful March 11 test of the Arrow-2 interceptor, the United States still has no plans to equip its own forces with Arrow missile batteries. In March 6 testimony before the House National Security Committee, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization chief Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles said: "I want to emphasize that [Arrow] certainly does not meet our operational requirements."

•Nautilus Laser: Following last year's successful test-firing of the Nautilus program's Tactical High Energy Laser, the United States appropriated $50 million in fiscal year 1997 for the Israeli program designed to protect Israel's northern border from Hezbollah Katyusha rocket attacks, a ten-fold increase from the $5 million given Israel for fiscal year 1996. Although no firm numbers were cited, the Pentagon committed itself to funding two-thirds of the program, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and deploy, according to knowledgeable sources.

•Anti-Terrorism Assistance: Following suicide bombings in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon in the spring of 1996, President Clinton promised Israel $100 million in American bomb detection and other anti-terrorist equipment. The money was given in two installments of $50 million each in fiscal years 1996 and 1997. Defense Secretary Cohen announced that an additional $25 million in anti-terrorist assistance will be given to Israel in fiscal year 1998 (which begins October 1, 1997).

•Military Stockpile: A unique development in America's enormous and multi-faceted aid package for Israel also was discussed during the Mordechai-Cohen meeting. The United States agreed in principle to a $300 million stockpile of weapons, ammunition and other military hardware that will be stored in the United States and made available to Israel in times of emergency, Defense News reported in April. The contents of the stockpile will be chosen by the Israelis and are supposed to be available to Israel and ready to deploy within 24 to 36 hours, according to Israeli officials. "From our perspective, [the stockpile] is a very meaningful form of assistance," Mordechai told Defense News. "We don't have the money to buy all of these things in advance. But under the agreement, it will be available if we need it. And then we will pay for it."

•Transport Helicopters: Israel's request to purchase 14 UH-60 Blackhawk transport helicopters and 34 engines for them was approved by the Clinton administration during Defense Minister Mordechai's visit, but the manner in which they will be funded remains a mystery. A unique and controversial idea from the Israelis was first reported in the Dec. 16 Defense News that described Israel's request to borrow $200 million in fiscal year 1998 in high-interest loans that would be paid back using Israel's aid from the United States in fiscal year 1999.

Israel cannot use money from its existing U.S. foreign aid account, the article explained, because almost all of its military aid through fiscal year 1998 is committed to Israel's multi-year purchase of F-15I advanced air superiority fighters.

According to informed sources, this unique funding idea was dropped by Israel a couple of months after it was proposed in Washington on the grounds that it would prove too costly. Not mentioned was the chutzpah associated with asking to borrow money against an American foreign aid appropriation that hasn't yet been requested by the administration, much less approved by Congress.

•Joint Military Maneuvers: Secretary of Defense William Cohen also pledged U.S. support for and involvement in joint Turkish-Israeli military maneuvers. Following last year's signing of a bilateral accord increasing strategic coordination between the two countries, Israel and Turkey have developed several avenues of defense and economic cooperation. Last year Israel Aircraft Industries won a $650 million contract to upgrade 54 Turkish F-4E Phantom combat aircraft, and Israeli companies are competing for billions of dollars worth of Turkish defense contracts including F-5 fighter upgrades, an $800 million airborne early warning system, upgrades for Turkey's American-made M60 tanks, and Turkey's eventual purchase of a new main battle tank. The nature and scope of U.S. involvement in joint military exercises was not revealed publicly by the secretary of defense.

Despite the fanfare associated with Defense Minister Mordechai's visit, U.S. and Israeli officials insist that all of these new gifts to Israel had been "in the pipeline" for a long time. This is an attempt to avoid criticism of U.S. timing in bestowing still more aid to Israel at the same time the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is ignoring U.S. calls for observance of Israel's commitments to the Oslo accords.

Last October, members of Mordechai's entourage accompanying him to Washington opined that the defense minister expected to be reprimanded for Israel's opening of the Hasmonean tunnel in East Jerusalem in September, setting off deadly clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, they pointed out, Israel was rewarded with $50 million in excess U.S. military equipment.

The latest peace-jeopardizing incident involved groundbreaking for Har Homa, and this time, too, Defense Minister Mordechai walked away with promises of more than half a billion dollars in increased U.S. aid. Whether or not it is intentional, the message from the U.S. government seems to be that the more Israel violates its agreements with the Palestinians, the more aid the Clinton administration is willing to give to make Israel feel secure.

Although Yitzhak Mordechai is widely respected among Israelis, and even among Palestinians and other Arabs, he is not a warm friend of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Instead he is considered a formidable, and more moderate, rival to Netanyahu within the prime minister's Likud Party.

Therefore, if the United States were to make future commitments of aid to Israel contingent on Israel's willingness to abide by its signed agreements with the Palestinians, America might find a more receptive audience in Yitzhak Mordechai. Instead, the Clinton administration is offering substantial aid to Binyamin Netanyahu without political conditions. This is a seemingly certain formula for derailing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which began with the Madrid Conference in 1991 and upon which good American relations with all of the countries of the Middle East depend so heavily.