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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (4018)	12/31/2004 2:51:53 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

Yaron won't give info on arms sales to China -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nina Gilbert, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 30, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With US-Israeli defense ties increasingly deteriorating over weapons sales to China, the man behind it all caused a furor on Wednesday when he refused to come clean in the Knesset about the problematic sales. Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron refused to give information to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the weapons transaction with China that has angered the US, except to characterize it as involving "replacement parts," adding that many of the media reports on the deal were "incorrect." Yaron spoke only in general terms about relations with the US, saying there is now a "crisis" between the Pentagon and the Defense Ministry. However, he said Israel is now trying to clarify that it has not broken "any US law or commitments to the US." Four MKs walked out of the meeting to protest Yaron's refusal to give more details about the China deal. The US Defense Department has accused the Defense Ministry of concealing a weapons upgrade for the Harpy unmanned drone weapons system sold to China in the mid-1990s. It has demanded that Israel not return the drones to China. Yaron said he could not discuss the details of the affair in the main committee, whose proceedings are made public, as the publication of the information could cause damage to the state. Before the meeting, Yaron appeared before the classified subcommittee on intelligence and detailed the situation. MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor), who attended the subcommittee meeting, expressed satisfaction with Yaron's report. He said that if the contract with China were canceled it would have a severe impact on the defense industries and Israel's reputation. "The Americans are also selling weapons to our enemies," he said, referring to ground-to-ground missiles sold to Saudi Arabia. Sneh also complained of a "lack of symmetry" by the US, saying that what it is doing to Israel it is "not doing to any other friendly country." But MK Yossi Sarid (Yahad) disagreed, saying that the US was willing to do for us what no country would. "We should save our national pride for other occasions," Sarid said. Yaron also said that since the US forced Israel to cancel the sale of the Phalcon radar airplane in 2000 Israel has kept its commitment not to harm US interests "100 percent." But Sarid why, if "everything is 100 percent," great friends of Israel such as US Defense Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz don't have faith in him. "I don't put blind trust in anyone," he said, adding that he had not received information about the affair that could help him reach an opinion. Yaron responded: "You have nerve." Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz (Likud) halted the meeting, and took Yaron into his office and asked him to apologize. But Sarid then got up and left the meeting, following an earlier walkout by National Union MKs Uri Ariel, Aryeh Eldad and Likud MK Majallie Whabee. Steinitz said he called the meeting in the expanded, nonclassified forum by request of MKs. However, he said Yaron could have provided more information. Yaron told the committee that up until the cancellation of the Phalcon deal, Israel had close cooperation with China. He said Israel is trying to solve the problem quickly in a manner that won't harm relations with either the US or China. Feith announced he would no longer deal with Yaron as result of the affair. jpost.com