Obama in "Israel": Offering Alliance’s Credentials amid Low Expectations
Local Editor
US President Barack Obama arrives in "Israel" Wednesday without any plan but to offer his credentials as a strategic ally to the Zionist entity.
Making his first official visit as president, Obama hopes to reset his often fraught relations with the "Israelis" in a carefully choreographed three-day stay that is high on symbolism but low on expectations.US officials claimed that the head of the Oval office will try to coax the Palestinians and "Israelis" back to peace talks. He will also seek to reassure Netanyahu he is committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and Syria's crisis.
However, the White House deliberately minimized hopes of any major breakthroughs, a reversal from Obama's first four years in office when aides said he would only visit if he had something concrete to accomplish.
"This seems to me to be an ill-scheduled and ill-conceived visit," said Gidi Grinstein, president of the so-called "Reut" Institute, a Tel Aviv-based think tank.
"On the Iranian situation, "Israel" and the USA don't seem to have anything new to say to each other. On Syria, the Americans don't have a clear outlook, and on the Palestinian issue, they are taking a step back and their hands off," he clarified.
With both Obama and Netanyahu just starting new terms and mindful that they will have to work together on volatile issues for years to come, they will be looking to avoid the kind of public confrontation that has marked past encounters.
Signaling the emphasis being placed on symbolic gestures, the US president plans to inspect an Iron Dome battery when his plane lands at around 12:30 p.m.
He departed the Washington area on Tuesday evening.
A few hours before Obama was due to land in "Israel", Netanyahu received an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Moscow, an Israeli official said, although he did not specify a date for the visit.
Obama, accompanied by his new secretary of state, John Kerry, will hold lengthy talks with Netanyahu later on Wednesday, with Iran expected to top the agenda.
US officials say Obama will urge further patience, with Washington worried that a threatened "Israeli" unilateral strike might drag the United States into another Middle East war.
Obama, who has said he is coming to listen, will fly on Thursday by helicopter the short distance between Occupied al-Quds and the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet Abbas.
"It's not a positive visit," said Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior official in the PLO, led by Abbas.
In Ramallah on Tuesday, Palestinian police scuffled with scores of demonstrators protesting against Obama's visit.
In Bethlehem, protesters tore down a billboard of Obama.
The activists, representing a cross-section of political parties, civil society organizations and the families of prisoners, tore down the poster and trampled on it, before unveiling a banner reading: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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