US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held private White House talks on Monday, seeking to forge a personal bond despite differences over Middle East peace and Iran.
Netanyahu drew up to the doors of the West Wing of the White House in a limousine bearing the Israeli and US flags, ahead of one-on-one talks with Obama, an expanded meeting with aides and a private luncheon.
The leaders were scheduled to spend a whole hour alone together in the Oval Office in a bid to forge a closer relationship in their first meeting since both came to power, before calling their national security aides into the room.
The talks were expected to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian peace track, efforts to stall Iran's nuclear drive and Syria.
Netanyahu was also set to have a working dinner with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later Friday, and to hold talks with national security advisor James Jones.
The White House meeting marks Obama's most testing diplomatic challenge yet after he made clear that he will vigorously push for a peace deal based on a Palestinian state and will seek to defuse Iran's nuclear drive with diplomacy.
