President Bush
Photo: AFP
PM Olmert
Photo: Flash 90
PMO: Talks with Bush to focus on Iran
Prime Minister's Office sources say Olmert to concentrate on Iranian nuclear threat during US president's visit to Israel next week. Tripartite meeting between Bush, Olmert and Abbas possible
Talks between Israeli leaders and US President George W. Bush during his visit to the country next week will focus on both the Palestinian and the Iranian issues, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday.
"Iran's uranium enrichment program is no less a concern to us than the Palestinian issue" they explained.
According to the officials, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will discuss with Bush the recently-published US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which stated that Iran's nuclear program was suspended in 2003.
"This is the first time that the subject will be discussed in person. We cannot say whether Israel will present to the president the information the country has on the subject. However, there is an understanding between Israel and the United States on the need to pursue efforts to stop uranium enrichment," the sources added.
A tripartite meeting between Bush, Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is currently being mulled, but while Israel and the US have already expressed their desire to hold such a summit, the Palestinians have yet to voice their stance on the matter.
In any case, the officials stressed, such a summit is not aimed at resolving the core issues, but rather at jumpstarting negotiations between the two sides.
During his visit Bush will be accompanied by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National security Advisor Steve Hadley.
