Rabin Goes Shopping for Arms

Gerald Ford last week had his first exposure to one of Washington's most familiar and delicate routines: negotiating with an Israeli Premier over U.S. military aid to Israel while simultaneously trying to persuade the Israelis to take a less intransigent attitude toward peace negotiations. This time the diplomatic fencing match was even more difficult than usual. Premier Yitzhak Rabin thoroughly understands all of Washington's political nuances after his recent five-year term as ambassador to the U.S. Moreover, as a former chief of staff of the Israeli army, he is professionally knowledgeable about the arms for which he deals.

At the end of a four-day shopping trip to Washington, Rabin returned home with much of what he had gone for. In talks with President Ford, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, the Premier argued effectively for a substantial increase in arms supplies for Israel. Not only will the U.S. provide $550 million worth of equipment this year, but it may also supply as much as $1.5 billion a year through 1979. That would be about five times as much as Israel bought in 1967--the year of the Six-Day War--and much of the cost will have to be underwritten by the U.S. Congress. Even with the financial help of American Jews, Israel cannot afford that level of arms purchases.

Arriving in Washington, Rabin maintained that "only a strong Israel, which has the capacity to deter aggression and to defend herself successfully by her own strength, has a chance of winning peace." In Jerusalem, those words were interpreted as a thinly disguised warning that Israel, if it felt it was losing the ability to defend itself, might once again decide on a pre-emptive war. But in his conversations with Ford and Kissinger, which White House officials described as "reasonably successful," Rabin laid out some of his government's thoughts about making progress toward peace.

Israel's old Arab enemies are anxious to continue the peace discussions inaugurated by Kissinger's Middle East shuttles earlier this year. Syria last week made new demands for Israel to continue its withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Jordan would like to start disengagement talks on the future of the West Bank, similar to those that Israel has held with Syria and Egypt.

Rabin reiterated his opposition to talks with King Hussein as a next step to peace. For one thing, in the Israeli view, there is no need to discuss disengagement, since Israeli troops are not eyeball to eyeball with the Jordanians as they were with Arab forces on the Golan and in Sinai. For another, such discussions would be politically awkward at home. Rabin's fragile coalition is governing Israel with a parliamentary majority of one. If Rabin were to negotiate with Jordan, his coalition might be toppled by the right wing of his own Labor Party, which agrees with the principal religious party that Israel should retain the West Bank in any peace discussions because of its biblical significance.

Rabin wants second-step negotiations with Egypt to come before those with Jordan and Syria. The Israelis, however, have a few conditions regarding further talks with Cairo. "There will be no movement in terms of us just giving back territory," Rabin told a press conference. "I believe the first move from war to peace should include nonbelligerency." Rather than press for a more relaxed Israeli position now--and provoke a confrontation that might get Rabin into trouble back home--Kissinger promised to sound out the Arabs on the Premier's proposal at the forthcoming U.N. General Assembly session and during the Secretary's next Middle East trip early next month.

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