Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will hold three working meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama during Obama’s three-day visit to Israel this week – two more than originally planned.
According to Voice of Israel public radio, the original plans called for only one meeting on Wednesday. However, meetings with Netanyahu have been added to Obama’s schedule on Thursday and Friday as well.
The Wednesday meeting will be the longest of the three, and it will be followed by a joint news conference by the two leaders.
Thursday’s meeting will include President Shimon Peres.
Voice of Israel reported that in Friday’s meeting, Obama will probably report to Netanyahu on the results of his meetings with the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership.
Sources close to incoming defense minister Moshe Yaalon told Voice of Israel that Yaalon will oppose any plan to carry out “gestures” toward the PA in order to convince the PA to return to peace negotiations with Israel. Such gestures amount to extortion by the PA, the sources said.