Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sent his security chief to Washington for talks with senior US officials as the Middle Eastern state prepares for an Arab backlash from a US-led war on Iraq.
Mr Ehpraim Halevy, chairman of the National Security Council and former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, will meet with his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and with Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet, a radio report said.
Mr Halevy is also expected to assure US officials that Israel intends to be prudent about its operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip so as not to interfere with US preparations for possible war in Iraq.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday said he considered war inevitable and that Israel reserved the right to retaliate if attacked by Iraq.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles on Israel, leaving two people dead and hundreds wounded. Israel, under pressure from Washington, did not retaliate at the request of the US who were reliant on th e assistance of a number of Arab states.
AFP