Date Written : Dec 24, 2001
Last modified : Dec 24, 2001
Addendum Dated : 07 Jan 2002
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres begins a three-day visit to India starting
07 Jan 2002, focused on the increasingly common security worries of the two countries.
India is locked in a standoff with Pakistan, and Israel is
battling the terrorist assaults supported by Palestanian Authority. India and
Israel are demanding that their adversaries renounce "terrorism" before entering peace talks. But
both the adversaries, Musharraf and Arafat can not go beyond "talking" peace and
keep doing a balancing act in their respective territories "asking" piece. Also
read : Operation Noah's Ark and the Islamic Terrorism
U.S. okays Phalcons sale to India
The last month visit of Director-general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, seems to be yielding results and is the first step towards the Indo-Israel Defense co-operation. Few representatives like Rep. Frank Pallone, New Jersey Democrat, had asked President George W. Bush to support the sale of an Israeli Phalcon airborne warning and control system (AWACS) to India.
Israel had cancelled a contract for selling the Phalcon to China last year following objections from Washington. Israel told the US last year about its plans to sell a Phalcon plane to India, but did not get unqualified approval from the administration of former President Bill Clinton. India is currently weighing the option of fitting the Phalcon system to either a Russian Il-76 aircraft or a Boeing.
America has now reportedly given a go-ahead to the sale of Israeli Phalcon, the early warning radar system to India. Earlier America was opposed to the sale on the grounds that the deal could escalate tension in the Indian subcontinent. The Bush administration has informed the Israeli Defence Ministry of a green signal for the sale of one billion dollar transaction between India and Israel. This was reported by a reputed Israeli daily Ha'aretz on its web site www.haaretzdaily.com
Ha'aretz says -- Sources in the U.S. administration said that the U.S. took a positive view of the developing relations between Israel and India "in a range of fields." The sources added that they were pleased that Jerusalem had coordinated matters with Washington beforehand. "Advance dialogue on the particulars [of the deal] before decisions are taken will ensure that there won't be any surprises in the future," the U.S. sources said. The U.S. does not expect to be informed of all the details of arms deal between Israel and India, but does want to be updated in advance on sales of strategic significance, such as those involving early-warning aircraft that would extend the Indian air force's range of action.
Phalcon system was developed for Israeli defence forces and for export. AWACS systems play a major role on the modern battlefield by providing real-time intelligence and command and control needed to achieve and maintain air superiority over the combat area and to enable surveillance of borders in peacetime. It is mounted either on the aircraft fuselage or on top of the aircraft inside a stationary dome, providing full 360° coverage. The radar can detect even low flying objects from distances of hundreds of kilometers, day and night, under all weather conditions.
Now that US is waging war on terrorism, this is the right time that India needs to take the opportunity and sign the contract for acquiring Phalcons. Israel had earlier given an offer to train Indian security forces for setting up a specialized anti-terrorist squad and intelligence network. Although India is self-sufficient of tackling terrorism in its own country, but the time factor needs to be weighed against the growing terrorism in the world.
India, Israel and Islamic terrorism
India and Israel are facing Islamic terrorism since so many years now. Yasser Arafat and Pervez Musharraf, both of them can sometimes be seen acting against the Jihadis. But they can not go beyond an extent and control these jihadis, because they are not in full control of them.
To start with a war against the jihadis, the first step needs to be crushing jihadis inside India and Israel as soon as possible. Since US have waged a war on terrorism, they should be left with tackling the wars outside India and Israel. At the same time, India and Israel should keep pressurising the Palestanian authorities and Musharraf government. India and Israel need to keep US administration informed about the ill-designs of the Al-Qaida network, which takes help of the ISI and other terrorist groups operating from Pakistani and Palestanian soil. The recent arrest of five terrorists including Palestinian and a Pakistani made by Indian police in Jammu on Dec 24 proves the presence of Al-Qaida network. These terrorists were planning to kill Americans and Israelis in India and attack key installations. The Al-Qaida network is spread from east to west across the geographical limits from Philippines to US. This menace has to be stopped.
Earlier in support of Israel, US
had said, "Israel is a sovereign power... Israel
has a right to defend itself" after the Jihadis did a triple bombing killing several
people. US had also asked India to take
"appropriate action" following the terrorist
attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec 13 and promised all help to India on the issue.
Jihad can not be stopped by issuing warnings like "stop proxy war" and "stop fidayeen attacks". One needs to have a "counter proxy-war" and "pin-point attacks" on jihadis.
The incidences occurring in India, Israel and many more incidences at an International level, gives us a clear story of how Islamic terrorists are spreading Jihad at a very rapid pace. World needs to know that the common threat to human survival is to deal with the International Terrorism, Islamic Terrorism being the worst of all.
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