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Last update - 23:58 02/06/2009
Aides: Obama held 'very pleasant' meet with Barak
By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents and The Associated Press
Tags: Israel News, Obama, Mitchell 

United States President Barack Obama held a "very pleasant" and practical discussion with Ehud Barak on Tuesday, aides to the defense minister said after the pair held an unscheduled meeting in the White House.

"This is part of a long dialogue that began with the prime minister's visit to Washington. [It was] very pleasant and warm," one said.

The aides said there was a large gap between how the media was portraying Israel's relations with the U.S. and how they felt the ties really were, and that this was evident in the meeting between Barak and Obama.
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They added that the pair discussed a number of subjects during the meeting, which took place shortly before the U.S. leader was set to leave on a trip to the Middle East.

"The president and the minister didn't go down to details... it was just the beginning of the dialogue, at the level of an understanding of the process," a Barak aide added.

Obama spoke for about 15 minutes with Barak, who was meeting with National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones at the time. While Obama's official schedule did not include a meeting with Barak, he has in the past dropped into other officials' meetings with international figures.

The unplanned encounter came a day after senior American officials harshly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his policies, causing tensions between the Obama administration and Israel's government to near crisis levels.

During Barak's meeting with Jones, the defense minister said both Israel and the U.S. were faced with great challenges and opportunities. He added that intimacy, candor and cooperation with the U.S. formed the cornerstone of Israeli policy, both in regard to security threats and to the peace process.

The purpose of Obama's Middle East trip is to repair badly frayed U.S. relations with Muslims and their nations; he plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and deliver a much-anticipated speech aimed at Muslims Thursday in Cairo. Obama, however, does not plan to visit Israel.

Obama dispatches envoy to Israel to discuss settlements

Obama, meanwhile, is dispatching Mitchell to Israel in order to hear official responses to U.S. demands for a halt to West Bank settlement building.

Mitchell will arrive for a two-day visit next week on Monday evening, during which he will visit both Jerusalem and Ramallah. He will meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday, with whom he will also discuss the premier's reluctance to declare support for a two-state solution.

According to a political source in Jerusalem, Mitchell is likely to also seek answers on matters raised during meeting meetings he held with Netanyahu's aides in London last week, where there was significant disagreement over settlement construction.

Mitchell will visit the Palestinian Authority and meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

It is still unclear whether the envoy will visit Syria for a meeting with its president, Bashar Assad, before or after the trip to Israel. Mitchell and his aides have been holding contacts with Syrian officials over the possibility of such a visit.

On Monday, the envoy told Barak that the U.S. was no longer willing to return to the understandings between the Sharon and Olmert governments and the Bush administration, which allowed continued settlement construction.

News of Mitchell's planned visit emerged Tuesday a day after Obama told a U.S. radio network in an interview that the U.S. would be more blunt in raising objections to Israel's settlement policies in the Palestinian territories than previous administrations.


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  • Crisis nears as U.S. slams Israeli settlement policy
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      1.   Settlements 18:04  |  Pessimist 02/06/09
      2.   US needs Oil - Israel in the way 18:11  |  Jeff Plymouth 02/06/09
      3.   Obama`s envoy to discuss (Sic) settlements 18:13  |  NoraTel Aviv 02/06/09
      4.   What Part Of "We Will Build" Don`t You Understand? 18:21  |  Yishai Kohen 02/06/09
      5.   Hopefully, Mitchell Will Back His Demands With Actions 18:28  |  Yaakov Sullivan 02/06/09
      6.   Natanyahu needs to REALISTIC. Palestinians Exist !! 18:32  |  Antonio da Silva 02/06/09
      7.   Israelis were mistaken to vote in IRREALISTIC NATANYAHU!! 18:37  |  Antonio da Silva 02/06/09
      8.   does USA make demands on other counties 18:40  |  david 02/06/09
      9.   A modest suggestion 18:43  |  WHG 02/06/09
      10.   Pointless repetition 18:53  |  Mark Lincoln 02/06/09
      11.   Yishai Koen and Realism 18:54  |  Yaakov Sullivan 02/06/09
      12.   Bibi is older than Obama and exprienced wars and secuirt matters 18:58  |  zozin 02/06/09
      13.   Yishai Kohen---it is Occup[ied Territory--so "heel" 19:10  |  Labhras 02/06/09
      14.   Yishai Kohen---it is Occup[ied Territory--so "heel" 19:10  |  Labhras 02/06/09
      15.   Fuzzy history according to Yishai 19:12  |  Dude 02/06/09
      16.   Americans are like Arabs 19:15  |  Frank 02/06/09
      17.   Sullivan: Your Ignorance Is Pathetic 19:20  |  Yishai Kohen 02/06/09
      18.   Settlements and Geneva Conventions! 19:32  |  Le Corbeau 02/06/09
      19.   Sullivan - a quote from Star Trek 19:36  |  Christopher 02/06/09
      20.   #8....Uh...I`d say yes. 19:37  |  JC 02/06/09
      21.   #2 you have Obama`s game 19:40  |  world observer 02/06/09
      22.   Slap Ooch 19:43  |  Samer 02/06/09
      23.   da silvia - Spain, Nazis, and the Latin American Inquisition 19:46  |  Arie 02/06/09
      24.   # 17 Le Corbeau (not Le Renard?) 19:49  |  17 02/06/09
      25.   Yishai - 1000s of years 19:51  |  Greg 02/06/09
      26.   OBAMA THE HIPPOCRATE 20:02  |  Yehiel 02/06/09
      27.   Labhras: Perhaperhaps you should READ the High Court decision 20:04  |  Arie 02/06/09
      28.   Yishai Kohen on the Samaritans 20:21  |  Yaakov Sullivan 02/06/09
      29.   #4 - Yishai, what don`t you understand? 20:24  |  Mark 02/06/09
      30.   Peace missiles reining down on Israel 20:25  |  Observer 02/06/09
      31.   a halt to West Bank settlement building ???? NO ! NEVER !!!! 20:32  |  Akiva P 02/06/09
      32.   It is Israel`s Land 20:37  |  Brod 02/06/09
      33.   Observer and "peace missile" 20:44  |  Arie 02/06/09
      34.   Looks like settlement building 22:00  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/06/09
      35.   Thank you religion! 22:00  |  J 02/06/09
      36.   What part of IT`S NOT YOURS TO KEEP don`t you understand? 22:17  |  curious 02/06/09
      37.   CORBEAU Where did you say" the secure recognised border"was? 08:30  |  PETER SM 03/06/09
      38.   CURIOUS which part of its never been yours can`t you understand? 08:34  |  PETER SM 03/06/09
      39.   #24 Not this nonsense again, 17.... 10:49  |  Johnboy 03/06/09
      40.   #27 Perhaps you should understand it, arie part 1 12:57  |  Johnboy 03/06/09
      41.   #27 Perhaps you should understand it, arie part 2 13:06  |  Johnboy 03/06/09
      42.   #31 Oh, yes, please do, Akiva P 13:25  |  Johnboy 03/06/09
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