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Israel offers anti-terrorism tech, Phalcons to India

Sharon arrives in Delhi amid protests

AGENCIES, New Delhi
Israel yesterday offered to give 'utmost support' to India in training and materials to fight terrorism. It also held talks on a billion-dollar deal on Phalcon radar systems which would be signed within weeks.
The offers took place on the sidelines of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 4-day visit to India which began yesterday.
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Sharon pledged to build closer ties with India yesterday, a move that has raised concern in neighbouring Pakistan and triggered protests by India's Muslim minority.
Hundreds of Muslims, angry at Israel's treatment of Palestinians and fearing the birth of a new and potentially anti-Islamic alliance, protested in the Kashmir region and in Mumbai and planned rallies in other cities.
Sharon and his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee, said the FROM PAGE 1
historic first visit by an Israeli prime minister offered the chance to give fresh shape to an old relationship.
"We regard India as one of the most important countries in the world," Sharon said during an official welcome at the red sandstone presidential palace in New Delhi.
"I believe this visit, the first by an Israeli prime minister, will help us move forward."
Pakistan has expressed concern over Sharon's visit, saying increased defense cooperation between its nuclear-armed rival and Israel could destabilise the region.
Sharon's 150-strong delegation includes several defence industry executives and warming ties are underpinned by booming sales of Israeli defence equipment of up to $2 billion a year.
This, combined with talk of a growing India-Israel-US axis, worries Pakistan and has stirred fears among India's minority Muslims.
Police detained more than 100 Muslim protesters in the financial capital of Mumbai, where Sharon is due Thursday, and rallies were planned in New Delhi and other cities.
"He has massacred thousands of innocent Palestinians. He is still killing Muslims," scholar Maulana Mansoor Ali Khan told a crowd of about 200. "He is a terrorist, a war criminal."
Pakistan said any India-Israel-US axis directed against Muslims would be a negative development and warned closer defence ties between India and Israel could destabilise South Asia.
"This has a destabilising effect on the region and we are deeply concerned about it," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday in Islamabad, which does not recognise the Jewish state.
Sharon's visit is expected to advance defence deals, including the sale of a more than $1 billion Israeli airborne early warning radar system. The three Phalcon radars would put large parts of Pakistan under Indian surveillance.
Israeli officials accompanying Sharon said they did not expect the Phalcon deal to be signed during the four-day visit, but hoped it would be finalised in the next two weeks.
India also wants to buy the $2.5 billion Arrow anti-ballistic missile system from Israel, but has yet to win US approval.
Washington sources cited concern that an Arrow-armed India could prod Pakistan into expanding its ballistic arsenal and create a repeat of last summer's nuclear standoff in the subcontinent, when the two nations came close to a fourth war.
Director-General of the Israeli defence ministry, Major General
Amos Yaron and Indian Air Force head, Chief Air Marshal S. Krishnaswamy held an hour-long talks on Phalcon radars.
"The two sides discussed a series of issues but their talks mainly focussed on our requirement for the three Phalcon AWACS systems for which there are no obstacles now," an Indian airforce official said.
Yaron's talks with Krishnaswamy came after an Israeli official accompanying Sharon told reporters here that the long-awaited deal would be signed within weeks.
The Phalcon is an Israeli-developed long-range radar warning and control system carried in a Russian Ilyushin-76 cargo plane.
The United States, which had been blocking the sale of Phalcons to both India and China, gave Israel the go-ahead last month to sign the Airbourne Warning and Control System (AWACS) deal with New Delhi.
"The talks focussed on a possible collaboration between state-owned Israeli Aircraft Industry and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation for joint production of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones)," one source said.
The Israeli military team is set to hold a series of meetings today with Indian military planners and the talks are likely to accelerate the sale of Israeli Travos infantry weaponry for counter-insurgency operations, especially in Indian Kashmir.
Earlier, pledging to fight global terrorism, Israel yesterday offered India all means to fight terrorism.
"We can train and teach and supply materials we have developed in fighting terrorism. We have developed a very advanced technology ," Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yosef Lapid told reporters after a meeting with chairman of All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) MS Bitta at the latter's residence in Delhi.
Observing that India and Israel had mutual problems, like terrorism, he said the two friendly countries could aid each other.
Both the countries faced attacks from outside and also "fanatic" Muslims who wanted to destroy the civilisation, he said sharing the sufferings of the people in Jammu and Kashmir and the terrorist attack on Parliament.
"In Israel we have a great deal of experience (in fighting terrorism). So have you," he said, adding that a great deal of suffering has been caused by terrorism which has become an important issue of the 21st century.
He cautioned that if terrorism was not fought tooth and nail, it would wipe out civilisation one day.