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Rivlin arrives in US ahead of White House meeting with Obama

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Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin arrived in the United States yesterday for an official visit. He will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House later today.

Rivlin landed in New York and then travelled by train to Washington DC. He is expected to hold a series of meetings today on Capitol Hill with both Republican and Democratic leaderships. However, the focus of Rivlin’s trip will be a visit to the White House this evening with his wife Nechama. They will light candles alongside President Obama to celebrate the Jewish festival of Chanukah. Rivlin and Obama will then hold a working meeting, where they are expected to discuss regional issues including ISIS and relations with the Palestinians.

Haaretz reports that both Israeli and American officials have said that they hope Rivlin’s visit will “convey that bilateral relations remain strong and steadfast.” It is a sentiment also expressed by commentator Nahum Barnea in Yediot Ahronot, who says that, “Rivlin’s visit is intended to illustrate that in the relationship between the two political establishments, in Washington and Jerusalem, a new leaf has been turned over, free of past baggage.”

Ahead of today’s White House meeting, Rivlin penned an op-ed in the Washington Post, in which he said that although there is no current diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians, there are measures which can be taken to boost coexistence. He called for Israel to take steps such as improving infrastructure in the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. Rivlin added though that, “Confidence… cannot be built unilaterally. It is clear that the Palestinians must end the incitement and violence against Israel. They must end the rejection of the very existence of Israel.”

On Thursday, Rivlin will deliver an address at the Brookings Institute in Washington, before travelling to New York where he will meet Jewish communal leaders. Rivlin is scheduled to return to Israel on Sunday night.