President Barack Obama held talks Tuesday with Israeli President Shimon Peres in hopes of finding ways to boost Middle East peace efforts, despite a new settlement move in Jerusalem. Peres, a veteran statesman and Nobel laureate whose position is largely ceremonial, opened a meeting with Obama in the Oval Office of the White House. They were due late to hold a working lunch.
Peres "has been a friend and partner with the United States for many administrations," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters ahead of the meeting. "The two presidents will discuss events in the Middle East and around the world and they will discuss, obviously, efforts that need to be taken towards finding a compromise in the Middle East peace process," Carney said. Obama has often had rocky relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-leaning leader and former political foe of Peres, over US efforts to encourage a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.