WASHINGTON?A senior State Department official plans meetings in Israel this week in an apparent effort to delay the potential sale of advanced radar planes to India.

A department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said John Bolton, undersecretary for arms control and international security, flew to Israel on Tuesday “for regular U.S. Israel consultations on nonproliferation matters.”

Israel would like to sell Phalcon airborne early-warning radar planes to India, with which it has developed a military relationship.

The technology is Israel’s, so U.S. permission technically is not required. Even so, Israel advised the Americans and appeared to have approval both from the Bush administration and President Clinton’s, as well.

With India and Pakistan in a renewed military confrontation, however, the administration is trying to persuade Israel to defer the sale, said diplomatic sources who insisted on anonymity.