MB Civic

Iran tops agenda when Olmert meets Bush

By Harvey Morris in Jerusalem and Guy Dinmore in Washington

Published: May 21 2006 21:12 | Last updated: May 21 2006 21:12

Ehud Olmert left on Sunday for his first visit to Washington as Israeli prime minister, a rite of passage expected to underscore the close ties between the two allies without providing any substantial breakthrough in the Middle East deadlock.

Officials on both sides described the trip as an opportunity for Mr Olmert and President George W. Bush to get to know each other – they met only once before in 1998 – rather than the occasion for any new °©initiative.

Mr Olmert took office after campaigning during general elections in March on a platform of further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank as part of a plan to fix Israel’s final borders, with or without the agreement of the Palestinians, by 2010.

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The strategy was based on negotiating with Washington rather than with the Palestinians. Israel said it had no partner for talks on the Palestinian side, particularly after the emergence of a Hamas-led government.

The Bush administration, however, is under pressure from its European allies and others not to accede to further unilateral moves by the Israelis, whose withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year failed to provide promised impetus towards peace.

The Olmert government on Sunday pre-empted anticipated US pressure to hold talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah president, by confirming it would prepare for such a meeting sometime after Mr Olmert’s return. After talks with Mr Abbas at the World Economic Forum in Egypt, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, said she saw no reason he should not meet Mr Olmert.

Israeli officials said that Mr Olmert would set out the general framework of his so-called “convergence” plan at a meeting with Mr Bush on Tuesday.

The Israeli prime minister has said he intends to evacuate settlements east of the West Bank separation barrier and expand large settlement blocs that Israel would retain. With the US administration focused on developments in the Gulf, the challenge posed by Iran’s nuclear plans was nevertheless expected to top the agenda.

The two leaders were also expected to discuss a deteriorating situation in Gaza, where tension was rising between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah movement after the deployment last week of a new Hamas militia and an apparent assassination attempt against a Fatah intelligence chief.

The Israeli cabinet on Sunday moved to counter accusations that it was contributing to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza by boycotting the Hamas government. It approved the release of Shk50m (£6m) in frozen Palestinian Authority funds to buy medical supplies for Gaza hospitals.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it was investigating the reported deaths of two women and a child in an Israeli air strike on Gaza in which an Islamic Jihad leader was assassinated.

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