U.S. wants Israel to suspend radar sale to India

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak has accelerated efforts with the United States to resolve their dispute over the sale of Phalcon airborne early-warning alert system to China as Washington is expected to demand new restrictions on Israeli arms sales to India.

Barak telephoned U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen over the weekend to discuss the Phalcon deal. Israeli officials would not disclose details but said this was regarded as the highest-level contact over the last few days by Israel to defuse the situation.

Israeli officials said they were stunned by the threats of the U.S. Congress to withhold aid to Israel until the Jewish state cancels the $250 million Phalcon sale. They said the Barak government must resolve the issue within the next few weeks.

Defense sources said the uproar over the Phalcon deal has suspended much of the strategic relationship between Washington and Jerusalem. The Pentagon has frozen dialogue and other forms of cooperation with Israel amid charges by U.S. officials that the Phalcon would endanger the U.S. presence in the Taiwan straits.

The Pentagon freeze includes the cancellation of a joint exercise with the Israeli air force. The Pentagon did not explain, but U.S. officials said the U.S. air force refused to deal with Israel out of concern that any information it obtains from the exercise would be transferred to Beijing.

The Israeli Haaretz daily said the United States has also expressed objection to another Israeli defense deal. The opposition by the Pentagon is to the Israeli sale of the Green Pine radar to India. The radar is used in the Arrow anti-missile defense system to detect incoming enemy missiles. The radar was developed by Israel Aircraft Industries.

U.S. officials said the Green Pine radar is similar to that of the Phalcon system and will exacerbate tension with Pakistan. The Indian deal has been delayed for more than a year because of U.S. opposition.

The Clinton administration has demanded that Israel provide advance notification of defense sales to 27 so-called countries of concern. They include China, India and Yugoslavia -- which have extensive defense relations with Israel.