PM says asked Obama to help free Shalit
Netanyahu tells ministers he appealed to US president to 'exert all of his power and the tools at his disposal' to secure kidnapped soldier's release. Israel-US relations 'stable and solid,' he adds
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu told his ministers: "I asked the president to exert all of his power and the tools at his disposal to secure Shalit's release, after four years in Hamas captivity."
The prime minister added that he had briefed the captive's parents, Aviva and Noam Shalit, on the efforts to release their son during his meeting with them on Friday.
Netanyahu told the ministers about his visit to the United States, saying he felt the relations between Jerusalem and Washington were "stable and solid."
During his meeting with Obama, the prime minister said, he called for immediate direct negotiations with the Palestinians and "an attempt to reach an agreement which will guarantee the security of the State of Israel and its citizens."
He added that he was under the impression that "the American administration recognizes the need for direct talks as well." According to Netanyahu, "President Obama has a great deal of appreciation for Israel's security demands and views them as extremely important."
As for the Iranian threat, Netanyahu said, "I was under the impression that "the president is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. I expressed my opinion that additional countries should join the sanctions."
According to Netanyahu, the third issue discussed with the American administration was the nuclear non-proliferation conference. The prime minister said that "the president and the White House reiterated the important stand in regards to Israel. The president reiterated that the US policy has not changed.
Netanyahu told the ministers that he and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had discussed the issue as well, and mentioned his meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Meeting with Mubarak
The prime minister added that he would meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday. "I will talk to him about advancing direct talks with the Palestinians," he said.
Palestinian sources told Ynet that Egypt would pressure Israel to take a series of moves, which would make it possible to launch direct negotiations, including "adding content" to the proximity talks in the next two months.
The sources added that Cairo had asked Netanyahu to take a series of trust-building moves on the ground, including significantly reducing the number of roadblocks, improving the freedom of movement and Palestinians' quality of life, and giving the Palestinian Authority more security authorities in large areas in the West Bank, referring to Areas B and C.
Israel "must add content to the proximity talks in order to allow Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) to enter direct talks – without being accused of not getting anything in return and without any progress in the indirect talks," one of the sources said.
Ali Waked contributed to this report
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