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Hardly had the Senate war ended before the peacemaking began. Top White House officials ordered that there be no gloating over the victory. Said Chief Aide Hamilton Jordan: "We take pleasure in winning but not in beating the group of friends that we had to beat." Immediately after the vote, Carter, Vance, Vice President Fritz Mondale and a squad of advisers began phoning scores of Jewish leaders to reassure them of U.S. support for Israel's security. Pledged Mondale later, at a dinner in New York of the American Jewish Committee: "Military assistance to Israel will continue regardless of any negotiating differences. It will never be used as a form of pressure against Israel."
Some Jewish leaders acknowledged privately that the plane deal will scarcely change the military balance of power in the Middle East, a view also expressed by Egyptian officials. Said one Egyptian political leader: "By the time we get the F-5E and have our pilots trained to use it, the craft will be obsolete. Meanwhile, Israel is getting F-15s and F-16s that it can use immediately. Who really won?" The Saudis will also receive F-15s, but a former top Egyptian official noted, "It will be another decade before Saudi pilots will be flying their F-15s effectively."
With the plane question settled, the Administration is now faced with the increasingly difficult task of getting the Middle East peace talks going again. Even before the Senate vote, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieut. General Rafael Eitan insisted that the country's defense required permanent occupation of the West Bank and Golan Heights. Said he: "The basic intention of the Arabs has not changed. They want to obliterate us." After the vote, Begin's ever firm attitude hardened still more.
To offset the effects of their defeat on the planes, Israeli officials were calling for action by Carter to get Sadat to reopen the peace talks, which were broken off in January. Insisted a senior Israeli diplomat: "Before the end of May, we have to have some dramatic gesture to help us. The Administration has to put the onus of peacemaking on the Egyptians and Saudis." Carter is not likely to go that far, but he is expected to take some action soon, perhaps this week. As a first step, he sent messages to Begin, Sadat and King Khalid of Saudi Arabia saying that now is the time to start bargaining again.