President Obama to push for 'urgent' peace talks between Israel and Palestine during Middle East visit



Renewed talks top of the agenda during President's second term

Set to visit Israel, West Banks and Jordan in the spring

Chance for Obama and Netanyahu to start relationship afresh

President Obama will push for an 'urgent' resumption of peacemaking talks between Israel and Palestine when he visits the Middle East in the spring.

The White House confirmed yesterday that the President will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan to discuss a wide range of issues in the region with Syria and Iran the most pressing.

And the U.S ambassador to Israel says he will seek an 'urgent' peacemaking agenda in Israel after efforts during Obama's first term fell apart.

New agenda: President Barack Obama will push for a new peacemaking deal between Israel and Palestine when he visits the Middle East in the spring

Speaking to the Israeli media today, Dan Shapiro said: ' We have a very complex agenda about Iran, Syria and the need to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, so it's important to begin as fast as possible.'

Obama's trip, his first to Israel since taking office, signalled that he intends to make the volatile Middle East - where Iran remains locked in a nuclear standoff with the West and Syria is caught up in a bloody civil war - a top priority in his second term.

While the White House gave no exact dates for the trip, Israel's Channel 10 television station cited unnamed sources in Washington saying Obama would start his visit to the Jewish state on March 20.



The choice of Israel, a close U.S. ally, for Obama's first foreign travel since his January 21 inauguration will give the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to try to repair their notoriously fractious relationship.

Negotiation: The relationship between Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu have been frosty but the President's second term gives them a chance to start afresh

Their dealings have been especially testy over the past year because of differences over how to best confront Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu is now occupied with forging a new governing coalition after center-left challengers made surprising gains in last month's elections, something that Obama's aides believe could strengthen his hand with the hawkish prime minister.

But with Israel and the Palestinians deeply at odds over how to resume negotiations that broke down more than two years ago, any new U.S. peace effort would face major obstacles.

Obama and Netanyahu discussed the president's coming trip in a January 28 telephone call, the White House and the Israeli prime minister's office said.

'The start of the president's second term and the formation of a new Israeli government offer the opportunity to reaffirm the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel and to discuss the way forward on a broad range of issues of mutual concern, including Iran and Syria,' the White House said.