U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to make a one-day visit to Israel. U.S. officials said Thursday that Gates would fly to Tel Aviv on April 18 for strategic discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and leave the next day. Gates will be the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Israel in eight years.
Jerusalem hopes the trip will help put to rest a 2005 dispute caused by Israel’s sale of advanced weaponry to China.
