Washington, July 26: Defence Secretary Robert Gates heads to the Middle East on Sunday as part of a broader diplomatic push by President Barack Obama to breathe life into faltering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, US officials said.
Gates’ talks in Israel and Jordan coincide with high-level diplomatic visits the same week by the US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, and a delegation led by Obama’s national security advisor, James Jones, US officials said.
The flurry of diplomacy also is expected to focus on Iran’s disputed nuclear program, as the Obama administration had suggested any outreach with Tehran would have to wait until after the June 12 presidential elections.
Jones “will lead a delegation to Israel and the West Bank from July 28-30 to discuss the broad range of issues in our relationships with Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” a White House official said.
“This trip builds on discussions special envoy Mitchell and Secretary Gates will have a few days earlier,” the official said.
Gates was due on Monday to meet his Israeli counterpart, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, before holding talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence officials said.
Gates was scheduled to travel later on Monday to Jordan, where he was expected to discuss regional peace efforts, Iran and the US drawdown in Iraq among other issues with his Jordanian counterpart and King Abdullah II.
The round of US diplomacy with Israel comes amid tensions between the two allies and criticism from an Israeli minister over Washington’s stance on Iran’s nuclear drive.
Intelligence Services Minister Dan Meridor last week said comments from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested Washington was “already resigned” to Iran gaining a nuclear weapon.
But a senior defence official told reporters Washington shared Israel’s concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
“I don’t think there’s distance on how serious we’re taking that challenge,” the official said.
The Israelis were not opposed to Obama’s bid to open a dialogue with Iran but were pessimistic about prospects for success, the official said.
But Gates would not be discussing any contingency plans for a military strike against Iran and the administration remained focused on a diplomatic approach, the official said.
The defence secretary and top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen “have been very clear that we think that a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities could be profoundly destabilising to the region,” the official said.
“The secretary is not going there to roll out a map and do contingency planning for some strike on Iran,” he said.
As part of Middle East peace efforts, Gates was expected to discuss bolstering Israel’s security with better missile and rocket defences, the defence official said.
As Israel had faced mortar and rocket attacks when it pulled out of southern Lebanon and from Gaza, the official said “it’s a genuine security concern that they have.”
“If they’re going to be comfortable in taking the risk that pulling out of the West Bank eventually will require them to take, I think they’re going to need some confidence that they have defence mechanisms against the possibility that history will repeat itself,” he added.
The official said Gates was not expected to raise Washington’s demand that Israel freeze all settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory, as that was an issue for US diplomats and not the Defence Department.
The US demand for a settlement freeze has triggered an unusual public row between the two allies.
—Agencies