Netanyahu to urge Egypt, Jordan to help Israel counteract Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tell Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II at meetings this week that they need to work with Israel to counteract the Iranian nuclear threat.

At the talks, which come before Netanyahu's May 18 meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Netanyahu is expected to brief Arab leaders on preliminary details of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians.

A source close to Netanyahu said on Saturday that the premier would tell Mubarak and Abdullah that the Iranian regime was attempting to use nuclear weapons to impose its agenda on the region, and that it could be stopped by working together. Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive on Monday at Sharm el-Sheikh, where he will meet with Mubarak in the presidential compound. Netanyahu will be joined by Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is on good terms with Mubarak and Egyptian intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman. Ben-Eliezer has been sending messages to Cairo for Netanyahu over the past few weeks.

Netanyahu's bureau has been discussing possible dates for a meeting with King Abdullah. The meeting may be held on Wednesday or on Friday morning.

"The timetable is very crowded, but we are making every effort to hold a meeting before the prime minister's trip to Washington," a government source in Jerusalem said.

Abdullah invited Netanyahu to take part in the Davos Forum discussions scheduled for this weekend on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, and to meet on the sidelines. However, Netanyahu may have to decline the invitation due to his trip to Washington.

Netanyahu told Israeli Russian-language journalists Thursday that he would not stop settlement building designed to meet natural population growth. "When the demand is made to freeze construction in the settlements entirely, I always ask, what are the children of the settlers to do? Live on the roof or underground?"

No preconditions for PA talks

Netanyahu also told reporters that he would not present preconditions for negotiations with the Palestinians, and would not accept preconditions from them.

On the possibility of talks with Syria, Netanyahu said Israel would never withdraw from the Golan because the region was strategic for Israel's security.

The prime minister stressed that he is ready to stand up to U.S. President Barack Obama and that he would not give up on matters he believes are critical to Israel's security.

Netanyahu said he intends to emphasize to Obama the need to deal with Iran and its "nuclear program, which is a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East."

"If Iran turns into a nuclear power, it will force all Arab states to ally with it, and the extreme Iranian regime that revealed its plan to eliminate Israel will not allow Arab states to normalize relations with Israel," Netanyahu said. link..