(VOVworld) – US President Barack Obama will begin a 3-day tour of Israel, the Palestinian West Bank, and Jordan on Wednesday. Obama’s choice for his first trip abroad after resuming the office of US President shows that Middle East issues remain one of the top priorities of the White House and its agenda for the next four years. VOV’s Hong Van comments…..

US President Barack Obama (Photo: Internet)

In Israel, Obama will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, deliver a speech to students in Jerusalem, visit several historical relics including the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a sacred place for Christians. When he is in the Palestinian West Bank, Obama is set to talk with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah, and visit a youth center. Then he will make a 24-hour tour of Jordan, an important US ally, to discuss violence on the Syrian border. More than 45,000 Syrians have fled to Jordan and are in need of international aid.

Obama will have a busy agenda in Israel and the Palestinian West Bank which are closely linked to US interests. Information released ahead of the trip suggests that Obama wants to repair damaged relations with Netanyahu. The alliance has become shaky over issues relating to Iran. Israel wants to attack Iran but the US prefers to take cautious steps via diplomacy and economic sanctions. To reassure a key ally, on Monday the US President reiterated his warning to Iran that it must take immediate steps to reduce the tension caused by its controversial nuclear program. Obama said it’s time for Iran’s leaders to prove to the international community that their nuclear program is for medical research and electricity generation.

Any public expectation that peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine might resume as a result of this trip was ruled out when before his departure, the White House announced that Obama didn’t intend to put forth any new initiative to break the 2-year deadlock in negotiations. In an address to leaders of the Jewish community in the US last week, Obama said that he will not set goals to resolve any specific political targets on the trip. A comically bad sentence Palestinian officials have refused to comment on the visit and its effect on the peace process. Abbas said the visit’s outcomes will be modest, it meant to warm up the negotiations frozen since 2010.

It appears that the first overseas trip of President Obama’s second term is primarily a listening tour and a preliminary preparation for resuming the stalled peace talks, so less anticipated than the one four years ago when he was expected to create a breakthrough in the US Arab relations.

Hong Van