WarSclerotic

 Israeli Prime ‎Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Egyptian ‎President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ‎on the sidelines of ‎the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this week, ‎an Israeli official said on Monday.‎

The official did not provide further details. Egyptian officials ‎could not be reached for comment.‎

Avi Ohayon, GPO

Netanyahu and el-Sissi met in public for the first time ‎in 2017.

Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab ‎countries to recognize Israel under a U.S.-sponsored ‎peace accord in 1979 and the two countries maintain ‎close coordination on security.

Netanyahu leaves for New York on Tuesday. He will ‎also meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.‎

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is ‎planning to host a conference of world leaders and ‎high-ranking diplomats on the sidelines of the ‎United Nations General Assembly this week with the ‎expressed intention of undermining U.S. President ‎Donald Trump’s regional peace plan, Channel 10 ‎News reported Monday.‎

Relations between Washington and Ramallah have been ‎‎‎particularly strained since U.S. President Donald ‎‎Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s ‎capital last December and subsequently moved the ‎U.S. ‎Embassy there in May. The move outraged ‎Palestinians, who envision east Jerusalem as the ‎capital of a future Palestinian state. ‎

Abbas has ‎since refused ‎to engage with any of ‎Trump’s Middle ‎East envoys, saying that the U.S. ‎bias in favor of Israel ‎proves ‎it cannot act as an ‎impartial mediator in ‎‎regional peace talks.‎

The Trump administration has taken ‎several other steps ‎against the Palestinian ‎Authority, including ‎suspending the large U.S. ‎contributionto the U.N. aid ‎agency assisting ‎Palestinian refugees and shuttering ‎the Palestine ‎Liberation Organization’s mission in ‎Washington. ‎‎

The United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and ‎‎Germany, as well as diplomats from 40 nations and ‎international organizations, have been invited to the conference ‎scheduled for Wednesday, the ‎report said. ‎

Titled “Salvaging the Two-State ‎Solution, ‎Defending the ‎International Rules-Based ‎System,”‎ the conference is set to take place at the Grand Hyatt ‎hotel in New York.‎

In a document distributed to those invited, the Palestinians say the meeting will focus ‎on “countering threats to the two-state solution ‎posed by Israeli settlement expansion in the West ‎Bank,” “formulating ways to safeguard U.N. agencies ‎that deal with matters relating to the ‎Palestinians,” and “advancing ‎steps that would jumpstart peace talks based on the ‎two-state solution and U.N. resolutions.”‎

In the document, obtained by Channel 10‎, the ‎Palestinians claim that Trump’s overall approach to ‎the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is part of his ‎administration’s efforts to “undermine the post-‎World War II world order.”‎

Israeli diplomats have reportedly been trying to ‎undermine the meeting, and have been reaching out to ‎the countries invited, urging them ‎either to pull out or to send only lower-ranking ‎officials.‎

Abbas is scheduled to address the U.N. General ‎Assembly on Thursday, the same day as Prime Minister ‎Benjamin Netanyahu.‎

London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported ‎that the Palestinian leader is expected to urge the ‎international community to save the two-state ‎solution or take responsibility for its demise.‎

Israeli sources said Netanyahu’s speech will touch ‎on the Middle East peace process, but is mostly ‎expected to focus on Iran, Channel 10 said.‎

U.S. Special Representative for International ‎Negotiations Jason Greenblatt on Monday refuted a report claiming that President Donald Trump was planning to rebuke Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.

The report, which appeared in the Israeli newspaper Maariv on Sunday, claimed that White House officials were furious with Netanyahu for allegedly acting to stall the White House’s much-awaited peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians and for increasing security coordination with Russia.

Greenblatt said the report was “completely false.”

In a statement issued Sunday, Greenblatt said, “The report in Maariv citing an unnamed source with respect to the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu in New York is completely false. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would note that no one from Maariv reached out to us for comment. Had they done so, we would have provided them an accurate preview of the meeting.

“The president and prime minister have a great working relationship and relations between our two countries have never been better.  The president looks forward to seeing the prime minister and to having a positive and productive conversation on a broad range of issues.”

Along with Iran, Russia has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces against rival rebel fighters, largely ensuring Assad’s continued rule.

Israel has consistently declared that it will not permit Iran to establish a presence in Syria and has launched numerous strikes to prevent Iran from entrenching itself there. Israel and Russia coordinate on security to prevent clashes between them.

Israel convened an emergency Diplomatic-Security Cabinet meeting on ‎Tuesday to discuss the transfer of Russian S-300 ‎missiles to Syria.‎

The meeting took place ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he is expected to bring up Israeli-Russian tensions in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Moscow announced its plans to deliver up to eight S-300 batteries to Syria on Monday, citing last ‎week’s downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane by ‎Syrian forces, which mistook the Russian aircraft for an Israeli ‎fighter jet. Fifteen Russian crewmen were killed in ‎the incident, stoking regional tensions.‎

Russia laid the blame entirely on Israel, saying Israeli ‎fighter jets were hiding behind the Russian plane, ‎an account denied by the Israeli military.‎

Netanyahu spoke ‎with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday about the issue.‎

A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said that ‎Netanyahu warned Putin that supplying advanced ‎weapons systems to Syria would only intensify ‎tensions in the highly volatile region.‎

‎”The prime minister expressed his confidence in the ‎credibility of the IDF’s investigation [into the ‎incident] and its conclusions, and reiterated that ‎the Syrian military, which shot down the plane, ‎and Iran, whose aggression is undermining stability, ‎are responsible for the unfortunate incident,” the ‎statement said.‎ ‎ ‎ ‎”Prime Minister Netanyahu said that transferring ‎advanced weapons systems into irresponsible hands ‎will ramp up the dangers in the region, and added ‎that Israel will continue to defend its security and ‎its interests. It was also agreed to continue the ‎dialogue between the professional teams and the ‎inter-military coordination via the military ‎channels.”

Former  Military Intelligence Director Maj. Gen. ‎‎(ret.) Amos Yadlin tweeted that the Russian ‎accusations that Israel was to blame for the ‎Russian plane being shot down were “fake news” meant ‎‎”to amplify diplomatic pressure and deflect ‎responsibility from Syrian and Russian officers for ‎downing the plane.”‎

Yadlin tweeted, “Supplying S-300 missiles [to Syria] ‎increases the risk posed by unprofessional Syrian operators ‎first and foremost to the Russian Air Force, to ‎Israel, the United States and the coalition as well ‎as to civil aviation.‎

‎”Israel has been preparing for this threat for 20 ‎years and will know how to handle it.”

Israel has long lobbied Russia not to provide Syria ‎‎with S-‎‎‎300 missiles, fearing this would hinder Israel’s ‎‎aerial ability to strike Iranian and ‎‎Hezbollah ‎‎assets in Syria.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow ‎had in the past obliged Israel, but last week’s ‎incident had forced Moscow to take “adequate ‎retaliatory measures” to keep its troops safe.‎

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision to ‎supply the weapons was not directed at any third ‎country.‎

‎”Russia needs to increase the safety of its military and ‎it should be clear for everyone,” he said. ‎

But he also repeated Moscow’s accusations that ‎Israel was to blame for the plane’s downing, saying, “No ‎doubt that according to our military experts, ‎deliberate action by Israeli pilots was the reason ‎for the tragedy and this cannot but harm [Russian-‎Israeli] ties.”‎

Russian news website Kommersant reported Tuesday that Russia plans to supply Syria with at least two S-300 air defense missile systems within the next two weeks. The systems will be deployed along Syria’s coast and later on its borders with Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq.

Russian news outlet Izvestia reported that Moscow is boosting its electronic warfare systems in Syria as well, saying the first systems have already been delivered to the Hmeimim air base in Latakia, to be used by Russian forces stationed there.

In the U.S., the White House expressed concern at the Russian plans to ‎supply the S-‎‎300 surface-to-air missile system to ‎Syria, saying it hoped Russia would ‎‎reconsider the move.‎

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would ‎discuss the issue with Russian Foreign Minister ‎Sergey Lavrov in New York. The two are scheduled to ‎meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General ‎Assembly this week.

‎”We are trying to find every place we can where ‎there is common ground, where we can work with the ‎Russians,” he said. He added that Russia was working against the United ‎States in many areas, and “we will hold them accountable.”‎

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Monday that the delivery would cause a “significant escalation” in already high regional tensions.

“There shouldn’t be any misunderstanding here – the party responsible for the attacks in Syria and Lebanon and really the party responsible for the shooting down of the Russian plane is Iran,” he said.

Bolton said a political process is needed to end Syria’s war but that Russia’s plans with the S-300 are making that difficult.

He said U.S. troops would stay active in Syria as long as Iran was involved.

“We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders, and that includes Iranian proxies and militias,” he said.

“We think introducing the S-300s to the Syrian government would be a significant escalation by the Russians and something that we hope, if these press reports are accurate, they would reconsider.”

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov responded to Bolton’s comments by warning the U.S. against taking “a mentor’s tone.”

International and regional powers backing various sides in Syria’s civil war have been carrying out strikes for years, often using special hotlines to prevent aerial confrontations.

Russian officials said Syria’s Soviet-made S-200 systems, one of which downed the Russian plane, were not sophisticated enough to identify the Russian aircraft as a friendly one.

Originally developed by the Soviet military, the S-300  fires missiles from trucks and is designed to shoot down military aircraft and short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

Alexander Khramchikhin of the Moscow-based Institute of Military and Political Analysis said the S-300 could “seriously affect Israel’s ability to carry out its strikes in Syria.”

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a former colonel in the Russian army, said the S-300 would make Israel “more careful in the vicinity of Russian assets.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s office issued a statement saying, “President Putin held Israel responsible for bringing down the plane and informed President Assad that Russia will develop Syria’s air defense systems.”