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          US, Israel Head Closer to New Defense Pact, Despite Tension

   by Ken Bredemeier

   The United States signaled Wednesday that it is moving toward a new
   package of military assistance to Israel, its closest Middle Eastern
   ally, even as relations between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli
   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain fraught with tension.

   U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in Jerusalem for a meeting with
   Netanyahu, said the Jewish state's regional military superiority must
   be preserved with both the quantity and quality of its weaponry. The
   two countries are negotiating a new U.S. defense aid pact to replace
   the $3 billion-a-year agreement that expires in 2018.

   The Israelis are seeking $4.5 billion annually from Washington; the
   U.S. is targeting a figure of about $3.7 billion. Netanyahu said in
   January that the two countries are finalizing details for a 10-year
   package.

   Biden said the assistance is necessary because Israel is in a "very,
   very tough neighborhood, a tough and changing neighborhood. We are
   committed to making sure that Israel can defend itself against all
   serious threats, maintain its qualitative edge with a quantity
   sufficient to maintain that."

   Biden told reporters that Obama has "done more to help bolster Israel's
   security than any other administration in history."

   But whether a new aid package is completed before Obama leaves office
   next January is an open question. Israeli aides hinted last month that
   they may wait to complete a deal until his successor is sworn in.

   Rocky relations

   The relations between Obama and Netanyahu have been contentious. The
   latest dispute unfolded this week, when the White House said it found
   out through news accounts that the Israeli leader had decided not to
   make a trip to Washington next week for a meeting with Obama after
   first suggesting the get-together.

   Nonetheless, David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington
   Institute for Near East Policy, told VOA the U.S.-Israeli friendship
   has thrived despite the prickly Obama-Netanyahu relationship.

   "Everyone has talked about the rockiness and the relationship between
   President Obama and the prime minister, while pointing out that the
   security relationship has survived and thrived, despite the political
   differences," Makovsky said. "But I don't know if in the eighth year of
   an eight-year year term there is great expectation of any grand
   turnaround at this point."

   Even so, Makovsky concluded, "I think these are two countries that
   understand joint values and the U.S.-Israel relationship is really too
   big to fail. It's grown in breadth and depth, the security relationship
   is very vibrant, very strong. So it's a kind of [like] A Tale of Two
   Cities, you know: the best of times and the not exactly best of times."

   Netanyahu's office said he called off next week's trip to Washington
   because he did not want to upstage the current Republican and
   Democratic presidential nominating elections, even though Obama is not
   on the ballot.

   Leaders' past spats

   The United States has been a staunch ally of Israel for the duration of
   its nearly seven-decade existence in the turbulent Middle East, but
   there have been year-by-year conflicts between Obama and Netanyahu,
   both of whom assumed power in early 2009.

   When the two leaders first met at the White House seven years ago,
   White House officials were irked that Netanyahu avoided endorsing
   Palestinian statehood, a U.S. priority that Obama now acknowledges will
   not become a reality before he leaves office.

   Later the same year, Obama said in a Cairo speech that the United
   States "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli
   settlements" in the West Bank -- housing communities that Israel has
   expanded over the years even as the world community has denounced the
   new construction.

   In March 2010, when Biden was on another trip to Israel, the Israeli
   government announced plans for a new 1,600-home settlement. Later the
   same month, when Netanyahu was in Washington, he was denied the normal
   formalities accorded a foreign dignitary, including the ritual
   handshake.

   By 2011, a peeved Obama was caught on a live mic complaining about
   Netanyahu in a conversation with then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

   "You may be sick of him, but me, I have to deal with him every day,"
   Obama said.

   Four years ago as Obama sought re-election, the White House viewed
   Netanyahu as a key supporter of Obama's Republican opponent, former
   Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who was openly welcomed by
   Netanyahu on a visit to Israel.

   There were new tensions last year as Obama and five other world leaders
   negotiated a nuclear agreement with Iran that curbed its development of
   nuclear weaponry in exchange for lifting sanctions that had sharply
   diminished Tehran's economy. Netanyahu, a staunch foe of the deal,
   accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress to denounce the
   deal as it was being negotiated. Obama refused to meet him while he was
   in Washington for the speech.

   The two leaders subsequently met at the White House after the nuclear
   deal was completed, shook hands and moved on to discuss the two
   countries' mutual interests in curbing Middle East turmoil.

   VOA's Elizabeth Cherneff contributed to this report.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-israel-closer-defense-pact-despite
   -obama-netanyahu-tension/3227822.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-israel-closer-defense-pact-despite-obama-netanyahu-tension/3227822.html