Washington: US President Barack Obama will next week welcome Israeli President Shimon Peres to the White House for lunch, at a time of intense upheaval in the rebellion-torn Middle East.
Obama plans to discuss US-Israeli security cooperation, the recent turbulent developments in the Middle East and stalled regional peace efforts at the meeting on April 05, the White House said.
Peres last met Obama in the White House in May 2009.
Obama made the push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians a signature foreign policy goal but has seen his efforts frustrated, amid tensions with government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
US-brokered peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians stalled in late 2010 after the expiry of a temporary freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.
Efforts by Washington to coax Israel into reimposing a freeze collapsed in December, and the Palestinians are refusing to continue negotiating while Israel builds on land they want for their promised state.
Bureau Report
