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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in Washington in mid-October for talks with senior U.S. officials to discuss a range of critical security issues, including Iran’s nuclear weapons program and U.S.-Israel missile defense cooperation. Barak met with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and had an impromptu meeting with President George W. Bush.
Other Israeli officials including Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Eli Yishai, Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On and Knesset member Yuval Steinitz were also in the United States. They met with congressional leaders to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations, the Iran threat and U.S.-Israel cooperation.
Several of the meetings came within the framework of the U.S.-Israel Interparliamentary Commission on National Security, which the two countries formed in 1998 to facilitate cooperation on missile defense and related strategic issues.
The discussions reflect the strength and vitality of the U.S.-Israel alliance in the face of common threats. The meetings also come as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is working to organize a gathering to make progress on Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation in Annapolis, Maryland, this fall.
Barak’s meetings resulted in an agreement to work on developing a multi-layered missile and rocket defense system that will be able to intercept Qassam and Katyusha rockets, Iran’s Shihab-3 ballistic missiles and others.
“We’ve agreed to enter into a discussion, a collaborative working relationship, to see what we can develop,” Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
Barak noted that the missile defense system could be marketable to other allies and serve as a useful technology in the war on terror. “It will be a first-class export item because use of missiles will be more and more widespread,” Barak said. “I think there will be more and more countries that will want to procure such a system.”
Barak has stated that any future territorial concession to the Palestinians should follow the establishment of a missile defense system capable of shooting down incoming short- and long-range missiles.
