Russian FM welcomes Israeli cooperation on terror

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to hold talks Monday with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, amid media reports that in the wake of the Beslan tragedy, Israel is to propose unprecedented anti-terrorism security cooperation with Russia, including sharing of sensitive intelligence data.

Israel is also expected to offer to accept a significant number of child victims of the hostage siege for rehabilitation.

Lavrov said Monday that Israel's renewed offer to share its experience of combatting militant groups, in the wake of the Russian school massacre, would give a boost to the fight against global terror.

Speaking to opposition leader Shimon Peres at the start of a whirlwind day of meetings with officials in Jerusalem, Lavrov said terrorism is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community.

"We appreciate the very strong readiness of the Israeli people to help Russia at this hour and this will certainly strengthen the counterterrorist coalition these days," he said.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said prior to meeting Lavrov, "We can help, because we have gone through these same things." Shalom cited the 2001 Dolphinarium nightclub suicide bombing, in which many of the casualties were young immigrants from Russia, a number of them pupils at the same high school in south Tel Aviv.

Anti-terror allianceOn Sunday, Lavrov and Sharon independently called for an international anti-terrorist alliance, as Lavrov arrived on the scheduled visit to Israel, a part of his planned swing through the Middle East.

"I believe we have to draw lessons from this appalling crime," Lavrov said. "Terrorism can be stopped only by uniting efforts of all the states. Russia will fight this evil resolutely and uncompromisingly in the framework of the anti-terrorist coalition. We hope that the solidarity with our country shown by our partners will become a driving force behind the worldwide struggle against this scourge of the 21st century."

Even before the Russian hostage tragedy began, Lavrov had said that Russia was interested in closer cooperation with Israel on terrorism.

"Our countries are both in the crosshairs of terrorism," he told Haaretz last week. "To fight this universal evil in a vigorous way is one of the areas where we can and should unite our efforts. During the forthcoming visit, we'll sign a memorandum on the deepening of cooperation between our foreign ministries, which provides the framework for the functioning of an anti-terrorism working group."

"[The] fight against terrorism has nothing in common with [the] fight against Islam," he added. "To present this fight as a kind of a religious conflict or a clash of civilizations would only play into the hands of terrorists who in reality have neither national nor religious identity."

Reserve IDF colonel Ephraim Michaeli, former Israeli military attache to Russia, indicated Monday that heretofore, anti-terror cooperation between the two nations had been limited, but added that Russian officials held Israel's anti-terrorism capabilities in high esteem.

"In this regard, it could be said that in the eyes of the Russians, we represent a superpower like the United States and Russia, no less than that," he told Army Radio.

In a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, Sharon offered condolences for the attack, and called for expanded intelligence coordination between the two countries. He said that "cooperation is essential in the fight against the dangerous phenomenon of terror, which does not distinguish [among victims] and harms women and children," according to a statement issued by his office.

Sharon is scheduled to meet Lavrov on Monday. Israeli officials said the talks would likely focus on the need for greater anti-terror efforts.

"They understand now that what they have is not a local terror problem but part of the global Islamic terror threat," an Israeli official said.

	Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, left, shaking hands with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov prior to their meeting in Sharon's office in Jerusalem Monday. (AP)