Mideast - AFP
Israel trying to block US sale of missile system to Jordan: report
Date: Sun, Aug 01, 2004
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel is trying to block a deal between the United States and Jordan for the sale of an air-to-air missile system, military radio reported.
The government, fearing that Jordan could eventually sell on the AMRAAM system to Egypt, has written to members of the US Congress in an attempt to torpedo the sale, the report added.
Opposition to the deal is being led by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom who are both concerned about the idea of Israel's large southern neighbour Egypt possessing such advanced weaponry, according to Haaretz newspaper.
Israel concluded a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, while Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab country to make peace with the Jewish state.
Spokesmen for the defense and foreign ministry refused to comment on the reports.
In Jordan, government spokeswoman Asma Khodr said the Israeli efforts were motivated by Amman's stance against the separation barrier being built by the Jewish state.
"Israeli attempts to influence members of the American congress to torpedo the projected sale of AMRAAM type missiles to Jordan seems to be motivated by Jordanian diplomacy ... against the erection of the separation barrier," she was quoted as telling the official news agency Petra.
"We consider this wall as a hindrance to the peace process and establishment of an independent Palestinian state," she added.
Israel insists the barrier is being built solely out of security considerations and that it has no intention of pre-determining the borders of the future Palestinian state.
But Palestinians say that the barrier is a blatant Israeli ploy to grab more of their land and shrink beyond anything acceptable or viable the territory of their future state.
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