Word: dayan
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Before leaving for Washington, Dayan had stressed his government's opposition to the sales package, adding: "Even if we have to absorb the punishment, we will continue to oppose the deal." He apparently was referring to repeated warnings by U.S. officials and concerned American Jews that a battle with the Carter Administration on a matter so related to U.S. energy needs, because Saudi Arabia is involved, could cause severe and lasting damage to Jerusalem's relations with Washington. Some influential American Jews warned the Israeli government privately that it could probably win on this issue...
...more concerned that a package deal would set a pattern for equating U.S. aid to Israel with similar aid to Arab countries. "This would tend to weaken our special relationship," said one Israeli official, "and strengthen Arab relations with America, and that is not in Israel's interest." Dayan stopped short of saying publicly that Israel would rather give up the planes it stood to gain than see the whole package go through, but many Israelis took that position...
...debate over the plane sales continued, the week's peace negotiations−highlighted by Dayan's trip to Washington, to be followed by Begin's visit this week−resumed but made little headway. After nearly six hours of talks with Vance and 90 minutes with National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dayan left the Administration with scant hope of a break in the diplomatic stalemate. At issue in the talks were the interpretation of an old document, U.N. Resolution 242, and the formulation of a new one, a declaration of principles to govern a comprehensive Middle East...
When his American hosts argued that Israel should adopt a more flexible attitude, Dayan replied that the U.S. must accept the fact that Begin is too committed to the concept of "Eretz Israel" for him ever to accept withdrawal from the West Bank. Nonetheless, said one American diplomat, "Dayan the pragmatist emerged. He told us, in effect, 'Let's not get hung up on 242 or on formulas, let's worry about what happens next.' " American officials took some encouragement from one Dayan admission: Israel now recognizes that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat cannot be expected...
...Dayan's visit did not, however, narrow the U.S.-Israeli disagreement over the wording of the declaration of principles. In the end, Israel may accept some version of the phrase recognizing the Palestinians' "right to participation in the determination of their own future," but it still rejects such phrases as "Palestinian problem in all its aspects" or "legitimate rights of the Palestinian people" on the ground that such words imply a Palestinian state on the West Bank−a concept that is anathema to Jerusalem. All in all, the two sides remained uncomfortably far apart...