Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday evening to meet with President Barack Obama for the fifth time since the two leaders took office.

A senior source in Jerusalem said that Netanyahu hoped the meeting would enable him to regain Obama’s trust after months of tension regarding West Bank settlement construction. Netanyahu was planning to present Obama with a number of proposals for coordinating progress in the Middle East peace process, said the source.

Netanyahu and Obama have not yet managed to establish close and intimate working relations since taking leadership of their respective countries. The level of trust between the two appears very low, making it difficult to yield significant progress in the peace process.

Obama is not convinced that Netanyahu is serious in his declared intentions regarding the process, and the Israeli premier is not confident that the current American administration is committed to maintaining the same relations with Israel as those held by its predecessors.

Netanyahu will present Obama with a few new ideas for the political process, and he hopes that the consolidation of a new policy outline will assist the two countries in overcoming the “hurdles” that will surface when the temporary settlement freeze ends in September.

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The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee is set to approve an unprecedented master plan that calls for the expansion of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, a move largely based on construction on privately owned Arab property.

The committee’s proposal would codify the municipality’s planning policy for the entire city. In essence, Jerusalem would uniformly apply its zoning and construction procedures to both halves of the city.

Before giving the go-ahead, the committee will give objectors to the plan 60 days to submit their reservations. This is the decisive stage in the planning process, because only rarely are plans altered.

Once the 60-day period expires, the plan’s approval is a fait accompli. Such a development would probably invite a hail of criticism from the Palestinians, Arab countries and the international community.

The United States has recently communicated its expectation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will prevent any change in the city’s status quo pending the conclusion of final-status talks with the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington early next month.

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President Barack Obama’s administration believes Israel’s delegation to next week’s nuclear security summit in Washington will be “robust,” despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decision not to attend, a top official said on Friday.

“We obviously would like to have the prime minister but the deputy prime minister will be leading the delegation and it will be a robust Israeli delegation,” U.S. National Security Adviser General Jim Jones told reporters traveling on Air Force One.

He also said that relationships between the U.S. and Israel are “ongoing, fine and continuous.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his planned trip to Washington, where he was scheduled to participate in a nuclear security summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, government officials said.

Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor will take Netanyahu’s place in the nuclear summit.

Obama has invited more than 40 countries to the summit, which will deal with preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to terrorist groups.

Netanyahu was due to arrive in Washington on Monday evening and was set to take part in three or four conference sessions the follwoing day, before returning to Israel on Wednesday.

Officials said the PM canceled the trip over fears that a group of Muslim states, led by Egypt and Turkey, would demand that Israel sign up to the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT.

A senior government official told Haaretz that that Israel was “disappointed” with developments in the run-up to the conference.

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lashed out at the new US nuclear policy that excludes Iran from the list of non-atomic states that the use of nukes against is banned, reports Press TV.

The 50-page “Nuclear Posture Review” (NPR) by the administration of US president Barack Obama which was released on Tuesday, purportedly restricts the use of US nuclear arms against some non-nuclear countries.

In response to the new US nuclear strategy, President Ahmadinejad on Wednesday lambasted the plan and advised his US counterpart not to repeat the “past mistakes” of the previous US governments.

“I advise Mr. Obama to be careful. If he tries to follow in the footsteps of Mr. [George W.] Bush, the response of the nations will be the same crushing response they gave to Bush,” President Ahmadinejad said in a speech to a crowd in the northwestern city of Orumiyeh.

“We don’t want Mr. Obama to suffer the same fate as Bush did. He must watch his behaviors and remarks,” he added.

President Ahmadinejad said that the new nuclear strategy, which he claimed was adopted under pressure from Israeli lobby groups and capitalists, was in direct contradiction to Obama’s oft-stated policy of change.

“Obama a few months ago said openly at the UN that he has come [to power] with the slogan of change and that he did not want to repeat the mistakes committed by previous US governments … But his yesterday (Tuesday) remarks contradict this slogan.”

The new NPR by the Obama Administration restricts the use of US nuclear arms against some non-nuclear countries. Countries that ‘from the US perspective’ do not comply with non-proliferation treaties will be at risk of a possible nuclear attack.

The US has repeatedly accused Iran of failing to meet its obligations defined in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) — an allegation categorically denied by Tehran.

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The Czechs are asking mistrustful questions ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama´s visit to Prague, his second in a year, as if they minded his repeated presence in the Czech capital, daily Hospodarske noviny writes today, adding that the “Kremlin complex” is behind this behaviour of Czechs.

In the face of Obama´s arrival, the Czechs ask whether his vision of a world without nuclear weapons is naive and dangerous, whether his disarmament treaty with Moscow is meaningful and whether Prague is an appropriate place for the treaty to be signed, Daniel Anyz writes in the paper.

By no means is Obama´s vision naive, as he actually seeks what former presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan formulated in the past, and refers to former U.S. secretaries of the state, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger´s plan of a world free of nuclear weapons, Anyz writes.

Moreover, Obama has never “naively” said that the goal is easy to achieve. On the contrary, he said he need not live to see it met. He has never “dangerously” said that the USA will remain completely without nuclear defence, Anyz writes.

As far as the effectiveness of the new treaty on nuclear arms reduction is concerned, critics say it is more advantageous for Russia and reduces the arsenals only negligibly. However, the treaty also determines the control regime in this area, which is important in a situation where the previous START treaty expired late last year, Anyz points out.

The Czechs tend to believe Moscow that Prague should not be an impartial venue for the U.S. and Russia to sign a bilateral treaty. Russia interprets the forthcoming even this way as it knows well the Czechs, who still suffer from a “Kremlin complex,” Anyz writes.

When discussions were held about the U.S. plan to install a missile defence radar on Czech soil in the past years, a large portion of Czechs believed Moscow´s assertion that the radar is unnecessary. Now many Czechs believe Moscow´s assertion that Obama “is selling the Czechs,” Anyz says.

The Czechs seem not to know where they belong, he adds.

In Pravo, commentator Jiri Hanak writes that the arms reduction treaty the U.S. and Russian presidents are to sign at Prague Castle on Thursday is no breakthrough in terms of disarmament, as the two big powers will keep a major part of their nuclear arsenals and will scrap only missiles that are outdated and of no use.

The meaning and effect of the treaty the breaking of the ice of mistrust which covered U.S.-Russian relations under the previous presidents, Putin and Bush.

An imperfect treaty is better than perfectly icy relations, Hanak points out.

The USA´s new nuclear doctrine, disclosed by Obama, reminds of a dream, but everyone knows that rules are set to be breached, he admits.

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President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama have agreed upon the final details of the new START treaty aimed at cutting stockpiles of nuclear warheads. The treaty will be signed in Prague on April 8.

The sides will reduce their nuclear arsenals by 25 per cent, leaving 700 strategic warheads to each. The number of deployed nuclear charges will be cut to 1,550.

“I want to thank President Medvedev for his personal and sustained leadership as we worked through this agreement. We’ve had the opportunity to meet many times over the last year. We both agreed that we can serve the interests of people through close co-operation,” said President Obama at a media briefing just after telephone talks with President Medvedev.

President Medvedev said the document “reflects the balance of interests of both sides,” according to his press secretary Natalya Timakova.

“The talks have not been easy, but constructive approach of both sides has allowed us to do a huge job in quite a short period of time,” Timakova quoted President Medvedev as saying.

She also informed journalists that in Prague the two leaders will also hold negotiations on a number of issues of international importance.

Political analyst Dmitry Babich says the treaty will remove a great financial burden from Russia’s economy:

“Both Russia and the US are interested in cutting the number of warheads. And Russia is even more – because it costs a lot of money to maintain the nuclear capability that we have now. Russia is more short of money than the US,” Babich told RT.

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Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren convened Foreign Ministry consuls for an emergency briefing, and told them the crisis between Israel and the US is the worst since 1975, Army Radio reported on Monday.

Oren was referring to a crisis that evolved when Israel refused to sign a treaty to withdraw forces from Sinai after the Yom Kippur War.

In an unusual move, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) made a public call on the White House to tone down the rhetoric. The lobby said statements made by senior officials in US President Barack Obama’s administration were “very worrying.”

The crisis erupted late last week when the Interior Ministry approved the building of 1,600 new housing units in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, while US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel.

The US administration refused to let go of the issue, even after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apologized to Biden and Biden said the apology was accepted. AIPAC said the White House should avoid public demands and unilaterally setting a timetable for Israel to follow.

In his briefing to consuls, Oren said the crisis with the US is of “historic” proportions.

The US reportedly wants Israel to announce that it’s cancelling the Ramat Shlomo project, investigate how the project came to be announced when Biden was here, and make gestures towards the Palestinian Authority. The US also reportedly demands that Israel publicly announce that all core issues will be discussed during the peace negotiations.

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The US ambassador to the EU has brushed aside speculation that the ascendance of China or confusion arising from the Lisbon Treaty have undermined the special relationship between the two sides.

Focusing on the EU’s importance in the areas of security and crisis-relief, the ambassador, William E. Kennard, told EUobserver in an interview: “Anytime anything dramatic happens in the world …the world looks to what the US and the EU are going to do.”

“We have with the EU and its member states a shared history and a shared sense of values that we don’t have with any other large bloc of people,” he said. “The US and the EU collectively represent 800 million democratically-elected people, and so when issues arise, whether it’s of human rights violations or the need to bring stability to troubled parts of the world, whether it’s Afghanistan or Pakistan or the Middle East, the EU is our logical partner.”

The diplomat underlined President Barack Obama’s belief in multilateralism and progress in ties with China and Russia. But he indicated that the level of trust between the EU and US exceeds what it has with the emerging powers.

“We don’t share the same culture, history or values with Russia,” he said. “It’s a different category altogether.”

Mr Kennard arrived in Brussels in January at an awkward moment. The US at the Copenhagen climate summit in December clinched a last-minute deal on emissions with Brazil, South Africa, India and China, leaving the EU out of the room.

In February, the Spanish EU presidency learned via the media that President Obama planned to skip an upcoming summit. A US spokesman at the time said Washington did not know who was in charge in Europe following passage of the Lisbon Treaty. The European Parliament subsequently compounded unease by voting down a transatlantic pact on counter-terrorism, the so-called “Swift” agreement.

The US ambassador laid part of the responsibility for the summit debacle on Spain: “We had never committed to a summit and we had never told the Spanish government that we were coming to Madrid in May. I think there may have been an assumption that we were,” he said.

He also hinted that the meeting was a diplomatic nicety rather than a venue for pressing decisions. “All of our political leaders have incredible demands on their time, we have to be careful in deploying their time to make sure there are defined outcomes,” Mr Kennard said.

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President Bashar al-Assad reviewed on Wednesday with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns bilateral relations between the two countries and means for improving them.

President al-Assad and Burns discussed the practical steps taken in this regard and the need for continuing constructive and serious dialogue based on mutual respect and common interests to benefit both countries.

The meeting also dealt with the latest developments in the region, particularly in Iraq and the occupied Palestinian lands and the stalled peace process, with President affirming the importance of a US role in the peace process that supports the Turkish role, stressing the need for the United States to adopt polices that push Israel to accept the requirements of peace.

In turn, Burns said that US President Barack Obama wishes to enhance communication and coordination between the US and Syria regarding various issues, underlining Syria’s pivotal role in the region.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad, the delegation accompanying Burns, the Syrian Ambassador in Washington and the Director of the America Department at the Foreign Ministry.

Later, Minister al-Moallem held a meeting with Burns.

In a statement to the press, Burns said “I’m pleased to back in Damascus… I’m here to convey President Obama’s continous interest in building better relations with Syria based upon of mutual interests and mutual respect.”

Burns added that he held extensive and fruitful talks with President al-Assad and discussed points of disagreement frankly and established points for mutual ground to build upon.

He affirmed that Syria plays an important role in the Middle East, saying “this is the moment in which both Syria and the United States to further explore ways in which to cooperate .”

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Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has warned Barack Obama, the US president, that there will be further attacks on the United States unless he takes steps to resolve the Palestinian situation.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera on Sunday, the world’s most wanted man also praised the Nigerian accused of a failed attempt to blow up an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day.

“The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero Umar Farouk [Abdulmutallab], reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you,” Bin Laden said.

“America will never dream of living in peace unless we live it in Palestine. It is unfair that you enjoy a safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly.

“America will never dream of living in peace unless we live it in Palestine. It is unfair that you enjoy a safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly.

“Therefore, with God’s will, our attacks on you will continue as long as you continue to support Israel,” bin Laden said.

“If it was possible to carry our messages to you by words we wouldn’t have carried them to you by planes.”

The Obama administration said intelligence analysts had not confirmed that the al-Qaeda leader’s voice was on the tape.

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