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| Europe |
| A Strategic Pact between Israel and Greece |
| 2005-10-01 |
| DEBKAfile’s military sources report an important strategic treaty is due to be signed within a few days between Athens and Jerusalem. It will finalize an arms deal running into hundreds of millions of dollars, provide for regular joint military exercises and foster bilateral cooperation in the war on terror. The treaty is drafted on similar lines to Israel’s pacts with Turkey and Poland. Greek defense minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos will soon visit Israel as defense minister Shaul Mofaz’s guest. He will be taken round IDF bases, the military industry complex, air force plants, production lines of the Chariot tank and factories manufacturing military electronics and communications systems. A few days later, Mofaz will go to Athens for an official signing of the military accords at the head of a large delegation. DEBKAfile’s political sources report that for decades, Athens kept its distance from Jerusalem as long as Greece was ruled by a left-leaning government that supported the Palestinians against Israel and depended on the Arab states for its trade and support on the Cyprus question. But the Kostas Karamanlis government is more than willing for a strategic partnership with Israel now that it is part of Europe and its economy is growing fast (income per capita of 13,500 p.a.). On his agenda now is the modernization of Greece’s security and military systems and their conversion from being geared to hostile relations with Turkey to contending with the Islamic terrorist threat encircling its borders. Al Qaeda’s Saudi cell and the Lebanese Hizballah have established strongholds in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Extremist fighters find it easy to slip in and out of Greece. The two countries’ security services first began to work together when Israeli intelligence and private security firms took responsibility for safeguarding some of the installations and events of the 2004 Olympic Games. This cooperation Athens is keen on expanding. The treaty will give Israel’s strategic standing in the Mediterranean and southern Europe its biggest boost since the treaty was signed with Turkey in the 1980s. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |