Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Obama, Netanyahu to Meet at White House Dan Robinson | White House 05 July 2010 President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a trilateral meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of UN General Assembly, 22 Sep 2009 Photo: AP President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a trilateral meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of UN General Assembly, 22 Sep 2009 President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House on Tuesday, talks focusing on Israel-Palestinian peace efforts, and regional security issues. Our White House correspondent has this preview of the meeting, which U.S. officials say comes at a time of momentum on several fronts. Prime Minister Netanyahu's last visit in March came amid the roughest spot in relations in years, with tensions over the issue of Israeli settlement policy in an area of mostly Arab East Jerusalem. That meeting took place away from the media, without even the usual brief on-camera statements by the two leaders, as President Obama, Mr. Netanyahu and senior aides huddled for several hours over the settlements issue and other matters. Mr. Netanyahu postponed a scheduled June 1st follow up visit amid the international outcry over the Israeli navy raid on a Turkish-sponsored aid flotilla attempting to breach an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. The public face of Tuesday's discussions will contrast sharply from last March when Mr. Obama was widely seen as having given Mr. Netanyahu a cold reception. This time, television cameras and media will be allowed in to the Oval Office, and the two leaders will make brief statements.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs summed up the issues on the table. "The implementation of Israel's recent policy changes in Gaza, regional security, our ongoing [Israel-Palestinian] proximity talks and the need and the hope to get quickly to direct talks," said Robert Gibbs. The Obama administration has welcomed Israel's easing of its three-year-old Gaza blockade. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he hopes Tuesday's White House discussions will focus on how transform the proximity talks to direct discussions. Briefing reporters last week, Dan Shapiro, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council (NSC), said while a fifth round of discussions overseen by U.S. special envoy George Mitchell was "quite substantive", only full direct talks can produce an agreement for a two-state solution. Since Mr. Netanyahu was last at the White House, President Obama has also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and last week with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.  In briefing reporters last week, U.S. officials avoided describing a timeline for upgrading the proximity talks, saying only that the discussions have succeeded in narrowing gaps. President Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, Ben Rhodes, said the president believes it is important for all parties to seize an opportunity to move forward. At a meeting on Sunday of Israel's Cabinet, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he hopes forward movement on direct talks with Palestinians will be a key outcome of his discussions at the White House. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of causing a failure of proximity talks. Israeli officials have said Palestinians must move first to direct negotiations before any extension of a moratorium on settlements in most of the West Bank. Before proximity talks began, Prime Minister Netanyahu imposed a partial freeze, due to expire in September, on construction of new settlements in the West Bank. The White House talks will also focus on broader Middle East peace goals, including normalization and full peace between Israel and its neighbors and efforts toward agreements between Israel, and Syria and Lebanon. What the United States, Israel and other nations see as the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program will be part of the discussions.  Global efforts on Iran have been strengthened by the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing a fourth round of tough sanctions. Mr. Obama last week signed a tough unilateral sanctions law approved by Congress.  NSC official Dan Shapiro said the United States and Israel have a common focus in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a determination shared with many other countries.  On the question of any rift in U.S.-Israel relations, the subject of intense speculation during Mr. Netanyahu's Washington visit last March, administration officials insist there is none. To the contrary, they say the Obama administration and Israel have taken a number of steps to strengthen cooperation, including what Rhodes and Shapiro called a deepening of the security relationship military to military consultations and intelligence exchanges.  .