Israel Makes a Smart Retreat

Israel has bent to U.S. pressure and, with an eye on its own long-term interests, canceled a deal to sell China an airborne early-warning system that would have markedly enhanced Beijing’s war-making capability. The first of the surveillance systems, to be installed on a Chinese transport, was scheduled for delivery in October 2001. China had an option to buy six more, at a total cost of up to $2 billion. Prime Minister Ehud Barak called off the sale just a day before the U.S. House was to consider a measure to cut the annual $1.98 billion military aid package to Israel by $250 million, equal to the down payment China gave Israel.

Israel surely knew all along that sale of its advanced Phalcon technology to China would upset even its strongest supporters in Washington. The Phalcon is similar to the highly effective U.S. system known by the acronym AWACS. Its acquisition would have given Beijing what the military calls a force multiplier. With such a system, China could detect and track scores of aircraft 200 or more miles away and, if it chose, send planes to intercept. Taiwan’s air force would be the most obvious focus of monitoring, but U.S. military aircraft in the western Pacific also could be tracked.

The deal could have cost Israel dearly. Along with the Palestinians it plans to seek a huge boost in aid if a peace deal is achieved. The Palestinians talk of $40 billion over a period of years, much of it to compensate and resettle refugees. Arab oil states, the European Union and Japan would be asked to contribute the greater part, but the United States is also expected to chip in significantly. At the same time, Israel looks to Washington for billions in additional security help.

Peace in the Middle East, the goal of American administrations for half a century, is worth supporting generously. But the cost of underwriting that peace has to be determined independently; it’s not something for others to decide. Congress and the White House should work together to assess what is needed to help make a peace agreement work and what the United States can reasonably be expected to contribute in the years ahead.