U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will arrive in Israel on Monday and meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The two are due to discuss several issues including security ties between the U.S. and Israel, the Palestinian drive for independence, the “Arab Spring” and the Iranian nuclear program.
This will be the second meeting between Barak and Panetta within two weeks. The last meeting took place when Barak visited Washington just before the opening session of the United Nations’ General Assembly that dealt with the Palestinian application. Barak also held meetings with General David Petraeus, who replaced Panetta as director of the Central Intelligence Agency earlier this year. In both cases, the meetings were announced only a few days before they took place.
Speaking to reporters on the plane on his way to Israel on Sunday, Panetta warned on that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the Middle East and said U.S. security commitments should enable it to take “risks for peace.” He said he would reaffirm U.S. security commitments to Israel during his visit, and try to help it improve its increasingly chilly relations with Turkey and Egypt.
“It’s pretty clear, at this dramatic time in the Middle East when there have been so many changes, that it is not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that is what has happened,” Panetta told reporters on his plane.
Panetta, who also visited Israel when he served as the CIA chief, is due to hold a joint press conference with Barak in the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv before continuing to Egypt, where he is scheduled to meet the leaders of the interim government.
