Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to arrive this afternoon in Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Netanyahu is to ask Mubarak to put pressure on Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to renew negotiations with Israel and to take part in a three-way summit with U.S. President Barack Obama during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. Netanyahu and Mubarak are also expected to discuss the status of talks on the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
Netanyahu and Mubarak are to meet privately and then be joined by others. They will then dine together when Mubarak breaks the day's Ramadan fast.
Ties between Netanyahu and the Egyptian president have grown closer over the past six months; the two leaders speak by phone on a weekly basis.
This is Netanyahu's second visit to Egypt since taking office, but in an unusual move, this time the meeting is in Cairo rather than Sharm el-Sheikh.
The media will not be accompanying Netanyahu due to the Egyptian desire to maintain a low profile for the meeting.
The prime minister is expected to update Mubarak on his conversations with members of the American administration on the issue of construction in the settlements. He will also seek Mubarak's support for American efforts toward normalization between Israel and Arab states.
Netanyahu and Mubarak are also expected to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat in light of the intent of Western countries to open a dialogue with Iran even before the U.N. General Assembly meets on September 23.
Meanwhile, the American envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchell, arrived in Israel last night. Members of Mitchell's team, including settlement expert Mara Rudman and diplomat David Hale, have been conducting talks with their counterparts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in preparation for Mitchell's visit.
Mitchell is to meet this morning with President Shimon Peres and this evening with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He is to meet tomorrow with Netanyahu, and is also expected to meet with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Sources in the American administration and in the prime minister's bureau in Jerusalem have both said they hope the visit will finalize the formula for the freezing of construction in the settlements.
Mitchell is still insisting on freezing construction for a year, while Netanyahu is offering six months.
Source in Jerusalem said they believe the parties will compromise on a nine-month freeze.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon left for Washington Saturday to prepare for the first strategic dialogue meeting between Israel and the United States in the Netanyahu-Obama era.
In contrast to previous years, the dialogue this time is to take place on the senior level, between the foreign minister and the U.S. secretary of state. The date for the meeting has not been set.
Ayalon is to meet with Jim Steinberg, deputy U.S. secretary of state, with Obama adviser Dennis Ross and with other senior State Department officials.
