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06/14/2005:

"Israel tries to defuse arms sale dispute with U.S."

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is trying to defuse a festering dispute over longstanding U.S. opposition to its arms sales to China and faces new U.S. demands for closer oversight of weapons deals with India, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.

The affair has strained security ties between Israel and the United States, its main ally and provider of about $2 billion in annual defense aid, at a time when it seeks U.S. assistance to help implement its planned withdrawal from Gaza this August.

"There is a crisis that has been going on for almost a year," Yuval Steinitz, head of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Israel Radio.

Israel's Haaretz daily reported the United States recently suspended several weapons and technology projects with Israel, moves which the newspaper said deepened the dispute that erupted last year over Israeli-supplied Harpy attack drones to China.

Israeli defense officials denied the report but said that Washington, seeking better supervision of Israeli arms sales to countries the United States deems problematic, now wants Israel to obtain advance approval for any weapons deals with India.
Full: washingtonpost.com

I always figure that when it comes to arms sales, Israel is doing proxy work for the US