US President Barack Obama's first meeting upon landing in Tel Aviv for his first visit in Israel as president on Wednesday will take place in the afternoon at the residence of President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.
Before, Peres will welcome Obama during a ceremony at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport alongside Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials.
The two presidents will inspect an honor guard and Peres will welcoming speech.
At the president’s Residence, the two presidents will walk together down the red carpet and will be welcomed by children waving Israeli and American flags.
President Obama will then sign the guest book and three children will thank President Obama for his unwavering support of Israel. The ceremony will end with the children singing a modern version of 'Tomorrow' in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
Amongst the children will be Nadav from the Gaza region who will thank President Obama for America's support for the Iron Dome and Nicole, aged 17, a participant in the Ilan Ramon science program who will thank President Obama for the cooperation between Israel and America in the field of science and express her hope for scientific development and peace in the world.
After the song the two presidents will go for a short walk in the garden of the residence and President Obama will plant a tree before starting their diplomatic work meeting to discuss security and diplomatic issues affecting Israel, especially the Iranian nuclear threat, the situation in Syria, the peace process with the Palestinians and the strengthening of the strategic relations between Israel and the United States of America.
After the meeting, they will make joint statements to the press.
On Thursday, at a state dinner, President Peres will bestow the Presidential Medal of Distinction, the highest Israeli civilian medal, upon President Obama for his contribution to the security of the State of Israel.
During his stay, the US President will also have talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has just formed a new government. The coalition is to be sworn in Monday, two days before Obama's arrival.
White House press secretary Jay Carney on Saturday congratulated Israel on the new government. He said the president looked forward to working closely with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders ‘‘to address common challenges and advance shared interests in peace and security in the region.”
The centerpiece of Obama's visit will be a speech in Jerusalem to an audience mainly of Israeli students. It's part of the president's effort to appeal to the Israeli public, particularly young people.
He will also make several symbolic stops, including the Holocaust memorial of Yad Vashem, the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, where he'll lay wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, and Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister who was assassinated in 1995 and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a revered site for Christians.
In a sign of the close military ties between the US and Israel, Obama will view an Iron Dome battery, part of the missile defense system the US has helped pay for.
According to Israel’s ambassador to the US, Obama’s Israel itinerary is also aimed at combating those who deny the Holocaust and Jewish peoplehood.
He said the US president’s visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest surviving copies of biblical texts and evidence of the Jews’ ancient connection to the land, is meant "to show that there is a Jewish people that is native to the region and whose roots here go back thousands of years.”
By deciding to lay a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, who founded Zionism 50 years before the Holocaust, Obama was sending a powerful message to those in the region whose narrative is that there would have been no Israel without the Holocaust, Oren said.
Obama’s visit to Yad Vashem on Friday morning, Oren added, is a strong signal to the Holocaust deniers in the region.
Oren also said the visit – even if some tactical differences may emerge, as they often do among the closest allies – will send a message to the region of “a strength and depth of the US- Israel relationship” that cannot be severed.
President Obama will also travel to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.
Obama and Fayyad will visit a Palestinian youth center, another attempt to reach the region's young people.
The US leader will make a 24-hour stop in Jordan, an important U.S. ally;, for talks with Jordan’s King Abudllah. The president's final stop will be in Petra, Jordan's ancient city.