I NEWS I • RED DOT CLEARANCE 1 WEEK ONLY! TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 25% Off ANY WOMEN'S RED DOT • SALE SHOE • RED DOT • SALE HANDBAG • IN STOCK HERE'S HOW IT WORKS: MFG. SUGGESTED RETAIL OUR REGULAR RETAIL RED DOT PRICE LESS 2 5 % OFF YOU PAY $.33:Jf50 PLUS TAX 26.99 19.00 4.75 $ 14 . 2 5 Famous Brand Shoe Stores NUSRALAS WE PUT FASHION IN A BOX AND A LID ON PRICES HUNTERS SQUARE • 31045 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD • FARMINGTON HILLS 855-2050 20 FRIDAY, JULY -15, 1988 Arms Sales Continued from Page 1 tain, which are far less sen- sitive than the United States to Israel's security needs. The sources point to the re- cent revelation that China is to sell Saudi Arabia surface- to-surface missiles which will be capable of reaching major civilian targets in Israel. Equally damaging, they say, was the weekend an- nouncement that Britain and Saudi Arabia have concluded an agreement dubbed the "arms deal of the decade" — which, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is worth up to $30 billion. A vaguely worded British Defense Ministry statement noted simply that the sale would involve "aircraft, a con- struction programme and specialized navy vessels." According to Israeli sources, however, the deal includes the sale of six minesweepers, 50 Tornado jet fighters, 50 Hawk jet trainers, 90 helicopter gunships and other weapons systems. It also involves the construction of two air bases. The Israeli sources point out that while the sale will not significantly alter the military balance of power in the region, it will bring Saudi Arabia into any future Mid- dle East war equation. This, they add, could in- = crease the possibility of Israel launching a pre-emptive strike against Saudi Arabia if a full-scale Middle East con- flict appeared imminent. An unnamed senior Israel Air Force officer, quoted in the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Ahranot, said that the Saudi acquisition of the rIbr- nado jet, which is considered to be the most advanced fighter plane in Europe, con- stituted a serious threat to Israel. Even more alarming to the Israelis, however, is the fact that the deal involves the transfer of highly sophisti- cated Western technology to Saudi Arabia. According to one military source, quoted in the Hebrew- language daily Ma'ariv, the sale would provide the Saudis not only with a quantitative but also with a qualitative leap: "In any future war," he. said, "we will be faced by a Saudi threat that did not ex- ist before!' Former Defense Minister Ezer Weizman conceded that Israel might have been wrong to block the sale of United States F-15 and F-16 aircraft to Saudi Arabia. With the benefit of hindsight, he said he would have preferred the United States to have sup- plied the Saudis with aircraft. Under such circumstances, Israel might have been able to persuade Washington to re- strict the number of aircraft it sold and to impose condi- tions that would have pro- hibited the aircraft from being used against Israel. Current Defense Minister Rabin also expressed concern at the escalating pace of the Middle East arms race. "We believe that the Arab countries are spending be- tween $40 billion and $60 billion each year on main- taining and purchasing more and better arms!" he told delegates attending a meet- ing in Jerusalem of the Rab- binical Council of America. Meanwhile, Dr Ze'ev Eytan, a specialist in the Middle East military balance at the Tel Aviv University Center for Strategic Studies, warned that there were inherent "In any future war, we will be faced by a Saudi threat that did not exist before." dangers in Saudi Arabia's rapidly expanding arms stockpile. "The more the Saudis have," he said, "the greater will be the pressure on them from other Arab states to con- tribute something to the Arab war effort against Israel — and they can do so." Meanwhile, Israel and its highly effective Washington lobby will now have to con- front some hard questions about their future responses to proposed United States arms sales to Arab states. On the one hand, they will find it difficult to turn a blind eye to military deals between Washington and countries that are formally at war with Israel; on the other, they must recognize that Arab states will acquire arms from other sources if Washington refuses to meet their demands. They must make the calculation that while the United States can be expected to restrict the use of certain weapons in particular cir- cumstances, other arms sup- pliers are -unlikely to act with such consideration and understanding for Israel's security interests. As if to underscore the dilemma, Kuwait announced early this week that it had signed an arms deal with the Soviet Union just two days after the United States Senate declined to sell it the Maverick air-to-ground missile system.