Israel has failed to end a crisis in military relations
with the United States regarding defense sales to China.
Israeli officials said the U.S. Defense Department has boycotted the
Defense Ministry because of Israeli weapons projects in China. They said the
ministry as well as leading Israeli politicians have failed to resolve the
crisis.
Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron briefed the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday.
Citing national security, he
refused to provide details of the China deal. But he said he hoped the
crisis would be resolved by March 2005. He did not elaborate.
Four parliamentarians walked out of the meeting in protest. Earlier,
Yaron provided details to a subcommitee on intelligence.
"If we provide details of the Israeli-U.S. episode, within minutes it
will be leaked to the press," a senior defense official said.
Yaron said that the crisis erupted despite
his contention that Israel did not violated any commitments to Washington. Yaron said the
Pentagon has been angered by the supply of replacements parts for an
existing weapons system sold to China.
"We did not break any American law and no policy," Yaron said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said bilateral trade has reached
$1.6 billion a year. Other officials put the figure at $2 billion.
"I would like to leave it in the hands of the two governments," Shalom
said. "I am sure that we'll come to an appropriate solution that will be
achieved in a short time."
Officials said the system was the Harpy strike unmanned aerial vehicle,
with an endurance of seven hours and a range of 550 kilometers. Israel sold
more than 40 Harpy UAVs to China in 1995 and the platform was returned to
Israel for an upgrade.
For its part, China has rejected the prospect that Israel would agree to
withhold the Harpy UAVs from Beijing. Chinese deputy prime minister said
Israeli-U.S. cooperation does not harm any third state.
In 2002, Israel Aircraft Industries supplied upgrade kits for the Harpy
deployed by China. In 2004, China requested additional kits, something the
Defense Ministry rejected.
Yaron was quoted as saying justifying Israeli relations with China. He
was said to have told the committee that the United States must not
interfere in Israeli affairs.
