BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (Reuters) – Israeli Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins today his first US  visit since taking office, promoting policies that could herald  a rocky relationship with President Barack Obama.

At the top of Netanyahu’s Washington agenda is halting  Iran’s nuclear programme, which Israel calls a threat to its  existence, and a new approach to peace with the Palestinians  that would shift the focus of talks away from statehood top.

Both issues could put Netanyahu and Obama, who will meet at  the White House on Monday, on a collision course, although  Israeli and US officials have been trying to play down  prospects of a confrontational meeting.

“The inbuilt and natural alliance between the United States  and Israel ensures a good dialogue. What we have in common far  outweighs whatever disputes there might be,” Deputy Israeli  Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Reuters in an interview.

Advocating the creation of a Palestinian state, a  cornerstone of U.S. policy that Netanyahu has balked at  endorsing, Obama has pledged to make Middle East peacemaking a  high priority.

But Netanyahu has signalled he regards halting what Israel  believes to be Tehran’s push for nuclear weapons as more urgent  than the pursuit of elusive peace with the Palestinians.

Noting that Netanyahu and Obama met twice before assuming  their current posts, Ayalon, a former ambassador to Washington,  added: “There is a strong basis for positive chemistry.”

With Hamas Islamists in charge of the Gaza Strip and little  progress made in now-frozen statehood negotiations that resumed  late in George W. Bush’s presidency, Netanyahu has said talks  should focus instead on economic, security and political issues.