JERUSALEM - Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres was heading to the United States Monday for talks with Vice President Dick Cheney on the planned pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Peres told public radio he also expected to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and was hoping to discuss plans to develop relatively sparsely populated areas of Israel as the government seeks to persuade the 8,000 settlers of Gaza to relocate voluntarily.
"I am going to speak about the disengagement plan and the development of the Negev and the Galilee," he said.
Peres' departure comes a week before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is due to hold a summit with George W. Bush at the US president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Sharon's senior advisor Dov Weisglass, one of the chief architects of the disengagement plan, is also in Washington as part of efforts to build up international support for the project in the face of opposition from the settler movement back in Israel.
Peres also came to the defence of the Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas who has been under attack from some quarters of the Israeli government for failing to launch a crackdown on armed militant groups.
Abbas "has taken important decisions, particularly with the sackings at the heart of the security services which show that he wants to move forward with the implementation of the roadmap," he said in reference to a troubled peace plan which aims to end the near five-year conflict in the region.
04/04/2005 06:28 GMT