Report: Israel, the US to hold joint defense treaty
The Israeli Jerusalem Post daily said on Wednesday, quoting well-informed sources, that the US administration is waiting for a reply on whether Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is interested in including the US- Israeli joint defense treaty as part of a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria and the Palestinians.
The paper quoted the same sources as saying that Washington does not want to propose the idea to the Israeli government if it feels that Israel will refuse it.
The paper continued that President Clinton will support the idea if it will help in signing a peace agreement and ensure public backing for the Israeli government in the referendum which will be made to ratify any peace agreement with Syria.
The paper added that such an idea will also ensure public backing for the USA, according to the sources, besides it will backed by the Republican conservatives who prefer the idea for relations with Israel to be on more solid ground than military cooperation and giving aid.
The Israeli paper said that since the October War of 1973, US officials have been thinking of having the US-Israeli defense treaty as part of a complete peace agreement with Syria..
It indicated that the idea of the treaty goes to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in October 1995 in his talks with US officials that there is a need for what he called "Clinton's plan" as part of a peace agreement with Syria. As expected by Peres this plan will include the US, Israel and the Middle East states that are signatories of peace agreements.
