Strategic Cooperation Agreement
Encyclopedia
The Strategic Cooperation Agreement was concluded on November 30, 1981 between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 during the first Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 administration and coincided with an official visit of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir
' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...

. The agreement was signed by Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....

 and American Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger , was an American politician, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Corporation, and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after...

 and pledged specific actions from both parties to increase strategic cooperation between them. The main objective was to deter Soviet threats and ‘Soviet controlled forces’ in the Middle East. Israel had aimed for some time at the creation of a more formal bond which would commit the United States to a closer military cooperation. The signing marked the beginning of close security cooperation and coordination between the American and Israeli governments. It was formally reconfirmed at the time of Reagan’s second peace initiative, on April 21, 1988.

The agreement took the form of a Memorandum of Understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...

 (MoU) and was an act of the executive branch not subject to Senate ratification. Therefore, it was not a treaty, which requires Senate ratification. Formally, it did not constitute an official alliance. Frequent references of the President and political leaders to Israel as an ally, did not carry with them the weight of a legal commitment to declare or enter a war on Israel’s side in the sense envisioned by the U.S. Constitution.

Politically, the strategic cooperation agreement represented a major policy shift toward Israel regarding American involvement in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. Since there was no corresponding pact signed with any Arab state, the United States could no longer claim to act as an impartial mediator or arbiter in the Arab Israeli conflicts.

The full text of the understanding is shown in the links below. George Lenczowski
George Lenczowski
George Lenczowski was a lawyer, diplomat, scholar, and Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, at the University of California, Berkeley. Lenczowski was a pioneer in his field as the founder and first chair of the Committee of Middle Eastern Studies at Berkeley...

, summarizes the main points as follows.
  • The United States and Israel to form a committee to arrange for joint military exercises and provide for the use of Israeli ports by the Sixth ( Mediterranean) Fleet.
  • Israel to agree to the pre-positioning on its territory of military supplies for use by the US rapid deployment force.
  • The United States to resume the delivery to Israel of American cluster bombs (temporarily suspended).
  • Israel to build, with partial US financial assistance, the Lavi fighter aircraft, which it was free to market abroad. (This provision was rescinded a few years later.)
  • US aid to Israel for military purposes to be increased by $425 million per year.
  • Israel and the United States to conclude a trade agreement that would allow to duty-free and tax-free imports and exports for both countries, giving Israel a preferential treatment in comparison with other US trading partners [at that time].


The agreement was developed after a few weeks of discussions between working groups of the Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Defense Department. with input from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...

 (AIPAC), particularly their Director of Research and Information, Steve J. Rosen
Steve J. Rosen
Steven J. Rosen served for 23 years as one of the top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee . He is regarded as an influential and controversial figure in the "pro-Israel movement", often singled out in writings critical of AIPAC...

. The strategic cooperation agreement roused much resentment in the Middle East. The Arab world and the Soviet Union were highly critical of this agreement, which they felt would impair America's ability to deal fairly with the peace process in the Middle East.

External links

Original text at Yale Law School http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/pal03.htm

Original text at Israel MFA http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/US-Israel+Memorandum+of+Understanding.htm
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