ABSTRACT
As the first year of the Reagan Administration drew to a close, it was clear that despite mutually reinforcing rhetoric and the commonality of a Soviet threat that should have brought the two sides together, the US and Israel did not in fact see eye-to-eye as to what a strategic relationship was all about. Begin hoped that Israel would become the linchpin of US strategy in the region. Washington saw strategic cooperation as a way to offset its moves toward the Arab states, to help encourage Israeli moderation in the region, and to counter the Soviets. However, this last objective seemed to have more of a rhetorical quality to it than a clearly delineated role for Israel.
