◼ After staying away for five years, President Obama arrived in Israel Wednesday declaring the U.S. Israel's "greatest friend" -- kicking off a whirlwind tour that could serve more to boost his battered image in the country than jump-start peace talks. - FOX
"We stand together because we share a common story -- patriots determined to be a free people in our land," Obama declared, shortly after touching down in Tel Aviv....
Obama also plans to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and he will travel to Jordan to talk with King Abdullah.
White House officials, in an effort to downplay expectations, have made clear Obama has no grand plan to bring Netanyahu and Abbas together for face-to-face peace talks.
They say he instead hopes only to improve his relationship with Netanyahu and help facilitate future talks....
Beyond having no new plan to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, the president does not appear to have plans for a big boost in assistance to the struggling Palestinian Authority, no new strategy for dealing with the chaos in Syria and no new outreach to Muslims like the one that was the centerpiece of his June 2009 visit to Cairo.
