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Friday January 4, 2008

Bush to upgrade U.S.-Israel relations

by leslie susser
jta

During President Bush’s visit to Israel next week, he is expected to announce a significant upgrading of diplomatic, economic and military ties between the two nations.

Bush will visit Israel and the West Bank from as part of a nine-day trip to the Middle East beginning Jan. 8.

The precise form the anticipated enhancement of U.S.-Israel ties will take is not yet clear. High-level teams from both sides are still working on the details.

One of the ideas initially considered but since questioned is the establishment of a formal military pact. Although this would signal a dramatic tightening of the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States, it also would limit both countries’ freedom of maneuver, and both sides have expressed reservations about it.

The idea was raised several weeks ago by Yoram Ben Zeev, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s outgoing director general for North America. In an internal memo, Ben Zeev argued forcefully for a formal pact with the United States, primarily on the grounds that it would help deter Iran from attacking Israel. Under the terms of such a pact, the United States would consider any military attack on Israel an attack on America, appreciably strengthening Israel’s deterrent posture.

Ben Zeev noted that Israel had sought such a pact in the past, but, he argued, conditions in Washington never have been as favorable as they are now. Bush has been one of the most supportive presidents Israel has ever known, and the current Congress, especially in an election year, would be sure to give the idea wall-to-wall backing, he wrote.

But the idea ran into strong opposition in the Israeli Foreign Ministry and other arms of government, and it is not clear where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stands. Opponents argue that a formal pact with the United States would tie Israel’s hands, forcing it to seek U.S. approval for any preemptive strike on Iran. That, opponents said, would weaken rather than enhance Israel’s deterrence. Moreover, a formal pact with the United States could involve Israel in distant U.S.-led wars.

The main U.S. objection is that a formal pact with Israel could seriously limit American flexibility in the conduct of foreign policy in the Arab and Muslim worlds. The upside for the United States is that it might induce Israel to go further in peacemaking with the Palestinians.

Israeli and U.S. officials discussed the pact proposal during the Clinton years and in the early years of the Bush presidency, but put the idea on hold after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Israeli officials refuse to confirm or deny whether it is now again on the agenda, but insist that “ways will be found to upgrade diplomatic, military and economic ties.”

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