Obama's Mideast trip: What to expect

President Barack Obama waves as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. / AP Photo/Susan Walsh

This will be President Obama's first trip to the region as president, and the first foreign trip of his second term. While former Presidents Carter and Clinton traveled to the Mideast with the express purpose of peace, this president won't be arriving with any approximation of a peace plan. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that things "lined up a little bit differently" with his predecessors, and that his primary purpose will be "to listen." Iran is expected be at the top of the agenda, with Syria following close behind.

Air Force One touches down in Tel Aviv this morning, and the president will be welcomed by both Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Obama will then view a U.S.-funded Iron Dome battery before heading to a meeting with Peres, where he will make a statement, and then on to Netanyahu's residence for another meeting and press conference.

• A changed Mideast awaits Obama's visit
• Obama's Mideast trip will aim to keep regional tensions at bay

The president has described his relationship with Netanyahu as "business-like," and there will be time and space for plenty of blunt exchange. On Iran, the Israeli prime minister has said that a "clear and credible military threat" must be on the table.

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Obama heads to Middle East

The two men differ when it comes to a red line for any sort of action, so the president hopes to a) assure Netanyahu he is serious about preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, b) prove that he is serious about protecting Israel and c) convince Netanyahu that unilateral action would be imprudent, from the U.S. perspective.

Israel is also worried about instability in Syria and the potential for loose chemical and biological weapons to be used against its citizens. Regional security and counter-terrorism will be on the agenda.

Netanyahu will also want to know how much the federal government's sequester cuts are going to affect Israel - and projects like Iron Dome. The Israelis stand to lose $155 million of $3.1 billion in annual aid.

Early Thursday, Mr. Obama will visit the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. He'll also tour a technology expo with Israeli officials. After that, he travels to Ramallah for a meeting, working lunch, and short press conference with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. When asked what message he might be bringing to "Abu Mazen," Mr. Obama said this to Israeli TV: "I will say that trying to unilaterally go to for example the United Nations and do an end run around Israel is not going to be successful."

But the United States does want to show a level of commitment to a skeptical Palestinian public. And in a nod to U.S. investment in and support for Palestinian institution-building, the president and Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad will also visit a youth center before Mr. Obama heads back to Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, the president said his primary mission is to "connect" with the Israeli public: "I have this fantasy that I can put on a disguise, wear a fake mustache, and I could wander through Tel Aviv, go to a bar and have a conversation, go down to a university and meet with some students in a setting where it wasn't as formal and you know we're going to try to find as many opportunities as a I can to interact directly with the Israeli people." Later Thursday, he'll have the opportunity to address mostly students at the International Convention Center before attending a dinner hosted by Peres.

There is a sense that the new coalition government may reflect a public more interested in socioeconomic issues and less interested in bombing Iran. With the government still in a bit of flux, the White House still doesn't quite know who it's dealing with or what the public really thinks.

There will be a lot of talk about the enduring bonds between the countries and the United States' unwavering commitment to Israel's security, but most likely few major announcements. Israel may put forward some good faith measures along the lines of limiting settlement construction, transferring tax revenues to the Palestinians, or transferring some sort of additional assistance to the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank.

Friday, the president will lay wreaths at the tombs of both Theodor Herzl and Yitzhak Rabin before visiting Yad Vashem, where he'll lay a wreath and make remarks. He will then go to Bethlehem, where he'll tour the Church of the Nativity.

Then it's off to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah - complete with arrival ceremony, press conference, and dinner.

Jordan's precarious geopolitical position has left it largely dependent on the Gulf States, but the United States has forked over $100 million to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis and wants to show support for the country's somewhat tenuous attempt at domestic reform. There is no current plan for the president to visit a refugee camp, but the White House hopes a stop so close to Syria's border will show that the president isn't backing away from a problem with no easy solution.

The president will travel to Petra Saturday morning before heading home.

[jarrellkaren]

I thought this was what Kerry was for. Here goes millions of money the government doesn't have.

[Rafterman11]

Kerry going isn't the same as the president going.

[bignard12]

Nothing from this loser of a President! 8 years and nothing to show for it except a health care bill that will destroy America.

[Rafterman11]

Obama has been president for 5 years, not 8. Is all your info about Obama as accurate? Apparently not.

[Ulgnud]

What to expect? Probably a toss up between another "Apology Tour" and more empty promises we can't pay for.

[Rafterman11]

Still pushing that apology tour myth I see.

[iam4honesty]

Netanyahu will also want to know how much the federal government's sequester cuts are going to affect Israel - and projects like Iron Dome. The Israelis stand to lose $155 million of $3.1 billion in annual aid.
*********************

Israel is a welfare state which offers NOTHING to society but hate. They stand with their hands out for American tax dollars while stealing from their neighbors.

For decades republicans have been working on their 'Starve The Beast' strategy to destroy America's social safety nets and redistribute all the wealth from the working class to the elite aristocracy. It would be wonderful if the Obama administration would use their same tactics and call the republican sequester the REASON that we can no longer dole out welfare to Israel and others as well as multi-national corporations and the top 1%.

[Chemistmike]

Obama will grovel in obeissance to his liege lords and owners of his treasury; the Zionist Dual Israeli American plutocrats who control the Federal Reserve bank, IMF, World bank, Goldman Sachs and its subsidiary-the US Treasury. Sonce Woodrow wilson, Jexckyl Island and the Balfor Agreement of 1917, the Jewish plutocracy has always determined our inflation rates and economic policy. the too big to fail Zionist od wall street and Tel Aviv will threaten our profligate president and squanderer in chief with no more money if he does not show some more subservience. Ditto that for Beijing and Riyadh.. We will be pledged to perpetual serfdom as we pay and pay on the money President Obaa borrowed in our name.

[Rafterman11]

This idea that the US is controlled by Israel is laughable and nothing more than an offshoot of severe antisemitism. It is, in fact, the other way around. The US holds the purse strings and if the US doesn't want Israel to attack Iran, it won't. We can't control everything Israel does (e.g., slowing settlement building). But for the most part, the US holds most of the cards in the relationship and to suggest the other way around is just hateful fantasy.

[robert1129]

Nothing constructive can ever be accomplished until Hamas has a seat at the peace table. Everybody knows that but Obama and Israel and the PLO continue to ignore that basic fact.

[Ulgnud]

Hamas is a terrorist organization. Basic Fact. We don't deal with terrorists.

[Rafterman11]

The were elected to power. We can't ignore them anymore.