Israeli defense minister closes debate on US security plan
The confrontation between the US administration and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon has not ended yet. Many precedents were set in this conflict, including the announcement released by Washington on March 21, that the administration is still waiting (impatiently) for an outright apology from Ya’alon. This has yet to come.
What has received less attention is the overall conflict waged in recent months between the administration and Ya’alon on the issue of the security plan — a conflict that sometimes spills over into verbal violence. It was US Secretary of State John Kerry who revealed for the first time, in an impassioned speech he delivered to the Saban Forum in December, the existence of this plan. The plan was formed, planned and constructed under the leadership of Gen. John Allen, who spearheaded a team of 160 experts and professionals. Never, said the Americans to us Israelis when holding a briefing, had such painstaking work been invested in a security plan. In closed talks, Kerry used the example of the border between the two Koreas to demonstrate that it is possible for such a security plan to succeed in bringing down the rate of border incidents, border smuggling and border security threats to zero.
Via such a project, in which the Americans invested their hearts and souls, one could easily place a giant check mark next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s perpetual demand for security and move on. The security plan was meant to serve as the key that would unlock the Israeli padlock that had blocked so far continued progress toward discussions about territory, Jerusalem, etc.
And then along came Ya’alon, who poured a bucket of cold water on the plan. In talks held behind closed doors, sources in the US administration expressed great resentment over Ya’alon’s behavior. They say that the Israeli defense minister exhibited arrogance, contempt, obtuseness; he gave derogatory nicknames to the security plan and presented it as an empty plan of “gadgets” and “sensors.”
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/us-israel-security-plan-kerry-yaalon-security-apparatus.html##ixzz2x4gxGL9E