PM prepares for US visit

Advisers to leave for Egypt; Netanyahu calls for direct talks.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Bibi smiling and pointing 311 ap (photo credit: Associated Press)
Bibi smiling and pointing 311 ap
(photo credit: Associated Press)
National Security Advisers Uzi Arad and Yitzhak Molko will leave for Egypt on Sunday to meet with head of Egyptian Intelligence Omar Suleiman, Israel Radio reported on Friday. The meeting is meant to help Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu prepare for his trip to Washington on Monday.
Netanyahu plans to meet US President Barack Obama next week to discuss the peace process.
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Israel Radio reported that the State Department asked that Defense Minister Ehud Barak join the prime minister on his trip, so that all of the relevant issues may be discussed. Barak has not decided whether to fly to the US or not.
According to the report, Netanyahu said: "We can do a lot of things, but first of all, we have to sit at a long table - me in front of [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas - and negotiate face-to-face. The only way we can finish negotiations is to begin, and I call upon President Abbas to come to the negotiation table."
Netanyahu is also expected to visit New York for meetings and interviews with the media.
Arad and Molko's trip comes a week after Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Yitzhak Levanon, complained to the foreign ministry about Egyptian attitude towards Israeli officials.