Published Sunday 19/07/2009 (updated) 21/07/2009 09:47 

Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to visit Israel on 27 July for talks likely to address Iran and illegal West Bank settlements, Reuters reported on Sunday.

The news agency quoted officials involved in planning the trip as saying that Iran will likely dominate the agenda, but relations with the Palestinians “could” come up. The Barack Obama administration wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt all construction in the illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Gates has signaled that he is unwilling to allow Israel to launch a preemptive strike on Iran, which it insists is developing nuclear weapons.

"We expect Iran to be the main issue. There is obviously a value in a show of Americans and Israelis closing ranks about Iran," one official told Reuters.

"This [visit] may be an American attempt to reassure Israel on Iran as part of Washington's pressure for movement on the Palestinian track," the official also said.

Gates will spend about six hours in Israel, meeting Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the agency said. Barak has been in talks with the United States about boosting missile defenses for Israel, which possesses the only known nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.

Gates is also expected to visit neighboring Jordan.

Last week the Times of London reported that Western Diplomats are offering Israel support for a strike against Iran in exchange for concessions toward the Palestinians. Israel also moved two of its missile-class warships into the Red Sea through the Suez Canal in a possible signal of its capability to attack Iran.

Over the weekend the US demanded that Israel stop a new settlement being illegally built on Palestinian lands, in the occupied East Jerusalem, according to several senior officials quoted in Israeli media on Sunday.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren was summoned by the State Department this past weekend where he was urged to stop illegal building in Palestinian territory, a number of Israeli radio stations and the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday morning.

The newspaper reported that it learned of the incident through officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss "diplomatic flaps with the US." The American Embassy in Tel Aviv had no immediate comment.

A top Israeli government source who rejected the American demands, according to the newspaper, said, "Israel is building in Jerusalem and will build in the future. The Israeli enforcement and planning bodies are in charge of this. This is private land. Up until now, there has been no criticism of Israel in Washington over construction in Jerusalem.