'Israel mulls F-35s for peace-talks offer' �
Aviation Week (US); November 22, 2010
Besides an additional 20 Lockheed Martin F-35s, at a cost of around $3 billion, if Israel makes more movement for peace with Palestinians, the US also has pledged to provide Israel with more technologies and capabilities to counter threats from Iran and to veto any anti-Israeli resolution in the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Further, the US has proposed signing a new defense treaty with Israel if a peace accord with the Palestinians can be achieved.
Western defense sources tell Aviation Week that the offer was initially presented to Israel in September, at the time when the previous 10-month moratorium on settlements was about to expire, but was rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The offer was renewed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a seven-hour meeting with Netanyahu in New York on Nov. 11.
It is assumed that Clinton demanded, in addition to the moratorium, that Israel will accept the US guidelines for the negotiations with the Palestinians and will remove some of the objections that have stalled the peace process so far.
As part of its efforts to revitalize stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the US government is widely reported to be suggesting it may provide Tel Aviv 20 additional F-35s if it halts new building construction in the West Bank.
Palestinians cite the construction efforts as the main barrier to resuming negotiations.
While the US State Department has refused to comment on the matter this week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed that such an offer was made by the US. ?In the past, we wanted to procure 40 F-35s, but due to budget constraints we could only afford 20,? he said. ?Now the US is offering to give us the additional 20 in exchange for a 90-day freeze on settlements.?
But apparently Netanyahu has asked to receive the US offer in a presidential letter that he would put before the Israeli cabinet, a move that stirred opposition from his own party and other coalition partners. ?Twenty fighters are much more important in the long term than the current political friction between Netanyahu and his party members,? says Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, frequently a political rival to Netanyahu.
Without commenting directly on the US offer, Israel air force commander, Maj. Gen. Ido Nachoshtan, notes that ?the F-35s will provide us a significant strategic capability. They have a key role in the building of Israel?s air force in the face of a developing arena.?
In October, Israel signed a $2.75 billion contract to buy a first squadron of 20 F-35As, to be financed through US foreign military aid funds. The aircraft are due to be delivered in 2015-17.
?The US offer to provide additional fighters for free is an offer we cannot refuse,? a senior defense source told Aviation Week. However, if Israel will accept the offer, the new fighters will be delivered only by the end of the decade, and will be irrelevant to any imminent conflict with Iran.
As of mid-November, the US presidential letter of commitment had yet to be received in Israel.
The above article can be found here: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awx/2010/11/19/awx_11_19_2010_p0-270734.xml&channel=defense
'Washington rolls over'
Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt); November 25, 2010
The [Zionist-run] Palestinian Authority (PA) reacted indignantly but helplessly to the reported package of incentives the Obama administration has offered Israel in exchange for agreeing to "freeze" settlement construction in the West Bank for 90 days.
PA officials said the incentives would embolden Israel even further and make any real progress in the peace process less likely.
"With these huge amounts of weapons, with these comprehensive diplomatic guarantees, why would Israel even think of giving concessions or make peace?" asked Ghassan Al-Khatib, head of the Government Information Office in Ramallah.
Another Palestinian official said the incentives amounted to "a total surrender of American political will to Israel".
According to written assurances, Israel would receive far-reaching offers and guarantees that no other US administration agreed to cede to Israel. This includes offering Israel 20 F-35 fighters, Israel's control of the entire Jordan Valley for an unspecific period of time after a final border is established, and a guarantee that the US will veto any anti-Israeli resolution at the UN Security Council.
The incentives deal, which has not been finalized, is still vague with regards to freezing settlement building in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, insisted that Jerusalem was not included in the deal. "Jerusalem is not a settlement, and Israel won't stop building in the capital," Netanyahu has said.
However, diplomatic sources in Ramallah have pointed out that Israel might agree to take some "symbolic measures" in East Jerusalem to persuade the Palestinians to rejoin the talks.
Meanwhile, Israel is trying to take advantage of the incentives by insisting on the inclusion of a clause that would make the US refrain from asking Israel, once again, to initiate another settlement freeze, regardless of the situation on the ground.
The effective bribe being offered to Israel has raised eyebrows, even among Israel's most rightwing political currents, who deemed the move "a golden deal that Israel can't reject," and that "such a deal must never be missed."
Some Israeli leaders affiliated with Netanyahu's Likud Party were quoted as saying that Israel should accept the deal and at the same time stick to its settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The inference was that Israel could always circumvent any promises given to the Americans vis-�-vis a settlement freeze, and that in any case the Obama administration is in no position to pressure Israel given its "insecure domestic standing" especially in light of the outcome of the recent midterm congressional elections.
The main reason for Israel's embrace of the incentives deal is the inclusion of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (FSJ). Considered the best in US military technology, the FSJ is part of a joint multinational acquisition program for the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps as well as eight international partners.
By allowing Israel to acquire these state-of-the-art fighters, Israel effectively joins the US and the other eight countries as members of a Western alliance working together on the largest military aircraft procurement ever made.
According to one American strategic analyst, Israel is not just receiving a gift of 20 F-35s, it is also becoming part of a procurement program designed to run through 2026 and possibly longer. According to the Global Security report, the F-35 fleet "may well stay in service until 2060 or longer".
It is not clear what prompted the Obama administration to offer Israel the package of incentives in return for so little and with such uncertainty.
Some say the package is partially intended to benefit the US military industrial complex; others suggest that the Obama administration has been effectively demoralized, having seen Israeli leaders circumvent, outmaneuver and beat the administration on its own turf. Still others interpret the unprecedented offering by citing growing desperation in Washington for any diplomatic achievement that would warrant and justify the Nobel Peace Prize Obama won last year, especially in light of his most modest achievements and many failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is little doubt that Israel will be able to score a double hit in its current standoff with Washington: get the package of incentives and also have its way in the West Bank. Israel would receive the best and utmost America military technology in return for strategically insignificant promises that Israel won't likely keep.
Underscoring its ill-will towards a just and dignified peace with neighboring Arab states, the Israeli Knesset this week passed a bill that obliges the government not to agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem without the approval of an absolute majority in the Knesset followed by a referendum in which a majority of the people would have to support any withdrawal.
Israel annexed both East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in violation of international law in 1967. Israel has also built extensive Jewish colonies in both areas, which makes it difficult to return to the status quo ante before the occupation in 1967.
Another Israeli provocation has been the approval by the Israeli government for changing the timeless features of Al-Aqsa Mosque's Buraq Wall, known to Jews as the Western Wall or Wailing Wall. The scheme appears aimed at erasing Islamic history at the site, ruled as wholly Islamic by the League of Nations during the British Mandate era.
The Israeli government allocated a budget of $25 million to expand and develop the site as well as fund archaeological excavations. The Israeli plan would be the most extensive alteration of the features of Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) since 1967.
Meanwhile, the PA, weak and helpless, is considering appealing to the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of a Palestinian state in light of Israel's unilateral steps in the occupied territories and also US unwillingness -- or inability -- to force Israel to end its occupation of Arab land.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas met this week in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The two are believed to have agreed that the Palestinians would go the UN as a last resort, if current US efforts fail.
However, even receiving a positive resolution from the UN General Assembly would not radically alter the situation on the ground, as without the intercession of the UN Security Council there would be no means available of enforcing the consensus of the General Assembly which for decades has supported, in majority, the rights of the Palestinians.
The circle is squared when the US includes in its incentive package to continue wielding its Security Council veto in Israel's favor.
The above article can be found here: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1024/re4.htm
US Dept. of State daily press briefing
November 15, 2010
QUESTION:� Just regarding US assurances of Israel?s security, the proposal that you guys have made to Israel reportedly includes 20 F-35s.� And I know you?re going to say, ?We?re not going to comment on the details,? but I?m --
STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN PHILIP CROWLEY: I?m not going to comment on the details.� (Laughter)
QUESTION:� I want to finish so you?ll understand why I think you should.� The agreement is for 20 planes.� Israel has already committed to buying 20 of these planes from Lockheed at a cost of $7 billion.� So my question is:� If -- is this the same 20 planes and, if so, what kind of incentive is that?� I mean, they?ve already committed to buying.� If it?s not, are you actually spending $7 billion to get them to extend the talks, extend freeze -- the freeze for 90 days?
MR. CROWLEY:� I?m --
QUESTION:� Because that?s the way it looks.
MR. CROWLEY:� Again, I?m not going to comment on details.� Our policy with regard to Israel?s security is well known.� We are --
QUESTION:� But $7 billion?
MR. CROWLEY:� We are -- look, we are committed to maintaining Israel?s qualitative edge in the region and-- but beyond that, I?m not going to comment.
QUESTION:� That was actually my question as well.� (Inaudible)
QUESTION:� Well, wait a second.�
MR. CROWLEY:� All right, hold --
QUESTION:� Let?s stay -- staying on the planes.� Is this something that they would have to buy or are you going to give them these?
MR. CROWLEY:� Again, I?m not going to comment on any specific discussions.� I would just always caution that any time you have reports about specific things, some details may be right, some details may be wrong.
QUESTION:� All right.� Well, let?s -- then let?s just ask this:� Can you -- can this Administration afford to give Israel another $3 billion worth of military equipment?
MR. CROWLEY:� Again, we are committed to support Israel --
QUESTION:� Well, regardless of whether you?re committed to preserving their qualitative military edge, can you --
MR. CROWLEY:� Again, I -- you?re --
QUESTION:� Can this Administration, which is broke, afford --
MR. CROWLEY:� -- leaping --
QUESTION:� -- afford another $3 billion?
MR. CROWLEY:� You?re leaping to a conclusion -- to conclusions that I?m not prepared to address here.
QUESTION:� But Israeli officials have told reporters over there this.� Are they misleading the reporters?
MR. CROWLEY:� Again, I?m just not going to get into any details of ideas that may or may not be under discussion between the United States and Israel.
The above excerpt can be found here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/11/150914.htm
Also see 'Zionist state to build another 1300 Jewish-only housing units in occupied W. Bank' here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101113221900526
Also see 'Zionist-run PA (along with Arab League and OIC) keeps UN Goldstone Report, flotilla probe in bureaucratic limbo' here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101102133320707Also see 'Jewish general to pilot evangelical-friendly air force (2008)' here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101006022753162
Also see 'While Washington plays peacemaker, US Treasury supports illegal Israeli settlement drive' here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20100809143242274
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Source: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101127013253495
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