Ex-Mossad head says ‘Netanyahu agreed to Golan pullout’

September 10th, 2009 Netanyahu mystery trip sets off flap in IsraelJERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu dropped out of sight for most of a day this week, a mysterious absence that has set off feverish speculation about what the Israeli leader was up to — and accusations he lied to cover up a clandestine trip to Moscow. After initially issuing a vague statement about visiting a top-secret Mossad installation inside Israel, Netanyahu kept silent Thursday as reports emerged that he flew to Moscow aboard a private jet for urgent talks on Iran.

September 7th, 2009 LAHORE - Israel has rejected reports regarding its intelligence agency, Mossad's involvement in former Pakistan Army chief General Zia-ul-Haq's plane crash. Terming the allegations as 'baseless', Israeli Foreign Office spokesman Egaal Gilmore refused to comment on the report saying the government does not have any stance on such claims.

July 22nd, 2009 Turkish leader presses Israel to return GolanDAMASCUS, Syria — Turkey's prime minister said Wednesday his country is prepared to resume mediating in the Arab-Israeli conflict and pressed Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. The Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan also strongly reprimanded Palestinians for the divisions between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Hamas militants who run the Gaza Strip.

July 10th, 2009 Top Netanyahu aide: No Golan Heights pullout for peace JERUSALEM — Israel will not withdraw from the entire Golan Heights in return for a peace deal with Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top policy adviser said in an interview published Friday, rejecting Syria's key demand for an agreement with Israel. The two countries could split the territory, suggested Uzi Arad, Netanyahu's national security adviser and the aide widely seen as closest to Netanyahu.

July 6th, 2009 JERUSALEM - US Vice President Joe Biden has said the US will not dictate to Israel-a sovereign nation-in case, it decides to strike Iran's nuclear sites. Biden was asked on ABC's This Week whether the US would stand in the way militarily if the Israelis decided they needed to take out Iran's nuclear program.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been assured by the chief of the country's intelligence agency Mossad, Meir Dagan, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites. Dagan held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility of such a raid earlier this year.

June 14th, 2009 Netanyahu appeals to Arab leaders for peaceJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday called on Palestinian leaders to restart peace negotiations without preconditions. Netanyahu made the call during a major policy speech about his Mideast peacemaking intentions.

May 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said during his first meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that Tel Aviv must end its settlement activities in the West Bank in order to progress in the peace process with Palestinians. 'Settlements have to be stopped in order for us to move forward,' Obama said, placing him at odds with the conservative prime minister, whose government appears poised to expand a key settlement in the West Bank.

April 30th, 2009 Israel, EU agree to postpone summitJERUSALEM — Israel says the European Union accepted an Israeli request that a high-profile summit be postponed in order to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu time to formulate his Mideast peace policy. The delay comes ahead of a trip to Europe next week by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose critical comments about Arabs and the peace process have raised international concerns.

April 28th, 2009 Israeli President Peres to meet Obama next weekJERUSALEM — Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, meets next week with President Barack Obama, before the American leader sees Israel's new prime minister. A statement from Peres' office says he will represent Israel at the annual conference of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.

April 26th, 2009 Israel: No preconditions to talks with SyriaJERUSALEM — Israel's foreign minister said Sunday that he was willing to sit down immediately with Syria to talk peace if there would be no preconditions, just days after saying that Damascus was not a partner for peace. Syria recently said it would be willing to resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government as long as they focused on a complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

February 23rd, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu met outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Sunday night in an attempt to bring her Kadima party into the government he is attempting to form. It is the first meeting between the two since the Feb 10 elections, in which the centrist Kadima won 28 of the 120 Knesset seats at stake, one more than that won by Netanyahu's hardline Likud Party.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's President Shimon Peres is to ask the head of the country's right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a government, an official said Friday. Netanyahu has earlier said he was ready to form a coalition with the centrist Kadima party of his main rival Tzipi Livni.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - The head of the right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Friday he was ready to form a coalition in Israel with the centrist Kadima party of his main rival Tzipi Livni. Netanyahu was speaking after a meeting with President Shimon Peres in an effort to build a grand coalition.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's President Shimon Peres tasked Benjamin Netanyahu Friday with forming a new government, ending speculation which had persisted since Israel's inconclusive general election last week. Although Netanyahu's hardline Likud Party had won only 27 of the 120 Knesset seats (Israeli parliament) at stake in the election, one fewer than won by the centrist Kadima party of Tzipi Livni, he is seen as having the best chances of forming a governing coalition.