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.
