Reply #3: Israel's Barak To Visit US To Discuss U.S. Arms Sales to Israel

[DogPoundPup]

JERUSALEM (AFP)--Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to Washington next week to discuss the implementation of a bilateral agreement to halt arms smuggling into Gaza, a senior official said on Saturday.

He will be the first top Israeli official to travel to Washington since the end of Israel's deadly 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Jan. 18 and since President Barack Obama took office.

Barak, who will leave on Tuesday, is to meet Secretary of Defense Robert Gates "to discuss the implementation of the Israeli-U.S. memorandum of understanding" signed on Jan. 16 aimed at halting arms smuggling between Egypt and Gaza, the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The two would also discuss U.S. arms sales to Israel, the official said, refusing to elaborate.

Israel tied its unilateral halt of the Gaza offensive to agreements reached with the U.S. and Egypt on stemming the arms smuggling into the Islamist-ruled enclave, where medics say more than 1,300 people died during its Operation Cast.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2009/January/middleeast_January460.xml§ion=middleeast&col=headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na