Four years and a few insults and slights later, Barack Obama is going to Israel.
President Obama will travel to Israel next month, the White House confirmed Tuesday. According to Israeli media Obama is scheduled to arrive March 20.
White House officials would not confirm the date. But Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, said Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a possible visit in a phone call last month. It will be Obama’s first trip to Israel as president, and comes as Israeli and Palestinian leaders are at odds over how to restart peace negotiations that have been dormant for more than two years.
Yeah, they’re at odds. The Palestinians still want to eradicate Israel, and the Israelis aren’t keen on the idea. Obama wants Israel to retreat to indefensible borders, Israel isn’t keen on that either. These are among the little sticking points in the peace negotiations.
Besides that, Obama and Netanyahu will have the Iranian nuclear program — containment, confusion, let’s call the whole thing off — and the rise of Islamism in Egypt to discuss. So it should make for an interesting trip.
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