05/09/2004 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem on Monday for talks likely to center on the need for greater global anti-terror efforts following the deadly seizure by militants of a Russian school, officials said Sunday. An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit was arranged long before the latest wave of violence in Russia. But the school siege, in which at least 350 were killed, nearly half of them children – along with last week’s Moscow suicide bombing and the August 24 bombing of two Russian passenger planes – meant the terror issue would now move higher up the agenda.
„The terrorist activities in Russia against innocent civilians prove anew that terror has no borders and a single goal: to destroy and sow ruin,” Sharon said at the beginning of Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting. „Terror has no justification, and it’s time for the free, decent, humanistic world to unite and fight this terrible plague, which has no borders or fences,” he said. The Israeli official said Russia now has greater cause to listen to what Israel has to say. „They understand now that what they have is not a local terror problem but part of the global Islamic terror threat,” the official said. „The Russians may listen to our suggestions this time.” Lavrov, who is conducting a Mideast tour, is also due to meet Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday. In addition to the terror issue, Lavrov and the Israelis will also discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israeli allegations that Syria is behind Palestinian attacks on Israelis and bilateral Israeli-Russian issues, other Israeli officials said.BPI-info
