Sunday 10 May 2009

Netanyahu to Urge Egypt, Jordan to Help Israel "Counteract Iran"


Netanyahu to Urge Egypt, Jordan to Help Israel "Counteract Iran"
Readers Number : 70

10/05/2009 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tell Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II at meetings this week that they need to work with Israel to counteract what he called “the Iranian nuclear threat”.

At the talks, which come before Netanyahu's May 18 meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Netanyahu is expected to brief Arab leaders on preliminary details of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians.

A source close to Netanyahu said on Saturday that the premier would tell Mubarak and Abdullah that the Iranian regime was attempting to use nuclear weapons to impose its agenda on the region, and that it could be stopped by working together.

Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive on Monday at Sharm el-Sheikh, where he will meet with Mubarak in the presidential compound. Netanyahu will be joined by Israeli Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is on good terms with Mubarak and Egyptian intelligence Chief General Omar Suleiman. Ben-Eliezer has been sending messages to Cairo for Netanyahu over the past few weeks.

Netanyahu's bureau has been discussing possible dates for a meeting with King Abdullah. The meeting may be held on Wednesday or on Friday morning. "The timetable is very crowded, but we are making every effort to hold a meeting before the prime minister's trip to Washington," a government source in Tel Aviv said.

According to the sources, there was currently discussion about a meting between Netanyahu and Abdullah some time after Netanyahu's meeting Monday in Sharm e-Sheikh with Egyptian President Mubarak, and before the prime minister leaves next Saturday night for the US and a visit on May 18 with US President Barack Obama. The meeting is probably going to take place on Wednesday.

Abdullah, who met Obama last month, was the first regional leader to meet the new US president. Both Mubarak and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are expected to meet Obama soon after Netanyahu's visit.

Netanyahu told Israeli Russian-language journalists Thursday that he would not stop settlement building designed to meet natural population growth. "When the demand is made to freeze construction in the settlements entirely, I always ask, what are the children of the settlers to do? Live on the roof or underground?"

Netanyahu also told reporters that he would not present preconditions for negotiations with the Palestinians, and would not accept preconditions from them.

On the possibility of talks with Syria, Netanyahu said Israel would never withdraw from the occupied Golan because the region was strategic for Israel's security.

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