(Haaretz),President Shimon Peres launched a campaign a few days ago whose aim is to convince the international community that the "Netanyahu-Lieberman-Barak" government in the making will advance the peace process with the Palestinians. Meanwhile, senior European Union officials have sent messages to Benjamin Netanyahu making it clear that a refusal to adopt the "two-state solution" means freezing any upgrade in relations between Israel and Europe.
Peres seeks to allay European and Arab suspicions about the Netanyahu government and the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister.
The president has been helping Netanyahu in his coalition negotiations with Kadima and the Labor Party, and was party to the secret talks between the Likud chairman and his Labor counterpart, Ehud Barak.
In a phone call late last week to mark the 30th anniversary of Israeli-Egyptian peace, Peres told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that the agreements signed by Israel contain an obligation to promote a regional peace agreement as well as separate agreements with each of Israel's neighbors. "In addition," Peres said, "the new government will be obligated to honor all of the international agreements that have been signed." Sources close to Peres said yesterday that the president has transmitted similar messages in his talks with foreign leaders, which are expected to continue through Wednesday, when the new government is to be sworn in.
Peres is to make an official visit to Prague on Monday, where he is scheduled to meet with the president, prime minister and foreign minister of the Czech Republic. The Czechs are the current president of the European Union, and according to sources in the President's Residence in Jerusalem, Peres intends to take advantage of his visit to present the coalition agreements to his hosts and to stress the new government's commitment to the peace process.
"It will be one of the main topics of the visit," the source said. In addition, immediately after the swearing-in ceremony for Netanyahu on Wednesday, Peres will launch a media blitz of interviews to the foreign press to explain the policies of the new government.
