Obama plans first Israel visit as president

President Barack Obama plans to soon make his first trip to Israel as US leader to confer on the Iranian nuclear showdown and to soothe his delicate relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The White House said Tuesday that Obama also plans to stop to talk to Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and to travel to Jordan on his trip, which will bring him close to the turmoil threatening to tear Syria apart.
Israeli media reported that Obama would begin his visit to Israel on March 20.
It will also come as the United States mulls whether to make a new effort to revive stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, though political conditions on neither side seem conducive to dramatic progress.
Obama has a fractious relationship with Netanyahu, and there has been open disagreement between the two men on the imminence of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program, and Israeli settlement building and talks with Palestinians.