Israel's hardline foreign minister to travel to Washington

Feb 5, 2012, 10:35 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is scheduled to travel to Washington for talks next week with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, their first in nearly 18 months.

Lieberman is expected to tell his hosts that just as the international community should not only impose sanctions on Syria, but act to topple the regime, so it should not be satisfied with sanctions alone against Iran, but act to topple its regime, a Foreign Ministry source told dpa on Sunday.

Lieberman and Clinton last met in Jerusalem in September 2010.

In June 2009 a joint news conference was tense, when the two clashed over Israeli construction in West Bank settlements.

Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper said the forthcoming meeting was 'surprising,' given that Clinton had 'avoided' it for nearly 18 months. Lieberman is also scheduled to meet with members of Congress.

Lieberman, of the ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's largest coalition partner, has made himself controversial because of his outspoken and hardline statements.

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