US defense secretary to visit Israel next week
Robert Gates will be first American defense secretary to visit Israel in 8 years. Gates expected to meet with Olmert, Peretz and Livni to discuss regional threats and military aid to Israel
WASHINGTON – United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will arrive in Israel Tuesday for a two-day diplomatic visit.
Gates will meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
The Israeli visit is part of Gates' first trip to the region, which also includes stopovers in Egypt and Jordan.
The visit is the first by a US defense secretary since William Cohen's visit eight years ago.
Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld's scheduled visit to Israel last summer was cancelled at the last minute.
Since replacing Rumsfeld in mid-December of last year Gatess has been chiefly concerned with the situation in Iraq, and he has visited the war-torn nation.
During his stay in Israel, Gates plans to address bilateral issues, military aid to Israel and regional threats.
Peretz met with Gates at the Pentagon exactly one month ago.
After the meeting Peretz declared that the two had smoothed over relations between the American and Israeli defense establishments, which had encountered tensions over an Israeli arms sale to China that it failed to coordinate with Washington.
