ISRAELIS TO SHARE LESSONS OF WAR WITH PENTAGON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640057-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: March 22, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640057-8
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Israelis to Share
Lessons of War
With Pentagon
Bid Is Dropped for New
Accord on Intelligence
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The New 'fort Times
WASHINGTON, March 21 ? Israel
agreed today to share with the United
States information on Soviet military
equipment and tactics gained from the
Lebanon war without insisting on a newt
intelligence-sharing accord, American'
and Israeli officials said.
The decision by the Israeli Cabinet, at
the initiative of Moshe Arens, the new
Defense Minister, who had been Am-
NEW YORK TIMES
22 MARCH 1983
Israeli and American officials cred-
ited the appointment of Mr. Arens as
Defense Minister last month as being
largely responsible for today's agree-
ment. His predecessor, Ariel Sharon,
had poor relations with Mr. Weinberger
and other members of the Administra-
tion. Mr. Arens is credited by Adminis-
tration officials with tying to avoid un-
necessary rifts.
The agreement comes when the Ad-
ministration is waiting for the Israeli
Government to signal its views on the 1
ideas presented to Foreign Minister
Yitzhak Shamir last week by Mr. Shultz
mation and lessons learned in the Peace
for Galilee campaign."
It said that in recent months "misun-
derstandings have arisen regarding our
desire to put all of the information at
the disposal of the United States Gov-
ernment."
"We have decided," it said, "to make
possible the start of this process of
studying information on the basis of the
agreements that have existed for quite
a while now between the United States
and Israel."
Pentagon officials said they regarded
this as an acceptance of Mr. Weinber-
ger's proposal, but the Israelis did not
acknowledge that it was in response to
on ways of bringing about an accord on that.
the withdrawal of foreign troops from
Lebanon.
After the Lebanese fighting ended
last August, the United States asked the
Israelis about discussing the results of '
the combat, but Mr. Sharon did not offi-
cially invite a team until October. A
group, headed by Andrew W. Marshall,
an intelligence analyst, went to Israel in
November and initialed a lengthy docu-
ment in which the Israelis sought to I
make sure they benefited from any
findings reached by the United States ,
bassador to the United States, appears
from the information. !
to end a months-old dispute between the ,
But Mr. Weinberger decided last
two Governments. It was hailed by a
month not to accept the document be- I
Defense Department official in Wash-
ington as "an encouraging development States
in his view it tied the United '
mu- States to long-term commitments to Is-
in relations." rael that he opposes, given the disagree-
Mr. Arens, according to an Israeli merits between the two Governments
Embassy official, sent word to Secre- , -over the situation in Lebanon.
tary of State George P. Shultz and to ', Late last month, after Mr. Arens re-
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinber- placed Mr. Sharon as Defense Minister,
I Mr. Arens discussed the unresolved in-
telligence-sharing situation with Mr.
Weinberger and asked him to make a
counter proposal. Mr. Weinberger de-
cided to offer a brief proposal that in ef-
fect said the United States and Israel
should continue to exchange informa-
tion based on previous understandings.
After the Arab-Israeli wars in June
1967 and October 1973, the two countries
shared the information gained by the Is- ;
raelis in combat against Soviet-made
equipment.
The Israeli Defense Ministry state-
ment said that "Israel has decided to
share with the United States the infor-
ger.
U.S. Team to Go to Israel
A four-man United States Air Force
team is due to arrive in Israel early
next month to begin going through the
huge amount of information picked up
by the Israelis in their encounters with
Syrian forces in Lebanon, and in partic-
ular to get Israeli views of the latest
Soviet military equipment used in com-
bat by the Syrians.
A statement issued by the Israeli De-
fense Ministry said, "Israel believes
that this important information that it
possesses is of great value to the United
States and will further tighten and
strengthen the security and other rela-
tions between the two countries."
The Israeli and American defense de-
partments have had strained relations
for months. In addition to the problem
on intelligence sharing, there have been
charges by the American side of provo-
cations by Israeli troops against United
States Marines in Lebanon, and counter
accusations -that Americans were re-
sponsible for the confrontations by not
agreeing to suitable forms of liaison.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302640057-8