U.S. hints at defense pact with Israel

WASHINGTON -- The United States has not ruled out a defense treaty with Israel, but U.S. officials said such discussions remain informal. They said Jerusalem and Washington are discussing ways to increase strategic cooperation, including responses to an attack on the Jewish state.

The officials, however, played down reports in Israel of a proposed U.S. commitment to respond to any attack on Israel by weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles. State Department spokesman James Rubin acknowledged that the topic might have been raised in one of numerous strategic forums held by the two countries.

The reports were based on an address by U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk to an Israeli think tank. "It's quite clear that there have been a number of accounts of private conversations he's had in Israel," he said. Rubin said the United States has not decided to pursue a mutual defense treaty with Israel. But he said the two countries have discussed ways to strengthen their strategic relations.

"We are discussing a number of ideas in the security area and many of these discussions are in a preliminary phase," Rubin said. "We have not consulted extensively with Congress on a number of these issues that are being explored, but it is my understanding that the focus of our efforts with respect to the new security environment that would be created is on the subject of extending and expanding the existing type of cooperation and the existing relationship, and not on any mutual defense treaty. That doesn't mean that in any discussion, any serious discussion of this issue, that that subject doesn't come up, but it is not being pursued seriously at this time."

In Washington, Israeli ambassador to the United States, David Ivry, ruled out a defense pact that included the participation of U.S. soldiers in any Arab war against Israel. Ivry told members of Congress and American Jewish leaders that his government did not support the deployment of U.S. combatants in the Golan Heights. Rather, Israel wanted U.S. peacekeepers to monitor any treaty between Israel and Syria.

Ivry told the members of Congress that the government also opposed the granting of U.S. military aid to Syria, Israeli sources said.