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         Biden Arrives in Tel Aviv as Netanyahu Declines Obama Meeting

   by Ken Bredemeier

   U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived Tuesday in Tel Aviv for talks
   with Israeli leaders, even as the U.S. and its longtime ally sparred
   over a now-canceled meeting that was proposed for later this month in
   Washington.

   The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he turned
   down a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House
   because Netanyahu wants to avoid interfering with the ongoing U.S.
   presidential primary elections, even though Obama is not on the ballot
   and leaves office next January.

   The White House said Monday that Israel proposed the meeting for either
   March 17 or 18, with the Obama administration agreeing to meet on one
   of those days, although Israel said it had alerted U.S. officials a
   week ago that Netanyahu might not make the trip.

   "We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting," National
   Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.  "We were surprised to first
   learn via media reports that the prime minister, rather than accept our
   invitation, opted to cancel his visit."

   Biden arrived in the Jewish state amid new violence involving
   Palestinians and Israeli authorities.  Palestinian attackers shot and
   stabbed police officers and civilians in separate assaults in Jerusalem
   and Tel Aviv, the latest bloodshed in five months of deadly
   skirmishes.  One of the victims who was killed was identified as an
   American tourist.

   Obama has acknowledged there will be no comprehensive
   Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement before he leaves office.  Biden is
   meeting with former Israeli president Shimon Peres on Tuesday and with
   Netanyahu on Wednesday. The White House said in advance that the vice
   president  would not be pursuing any new peace initiative.

   Instead, Biden and Netanyahu plan to discuss a new 10-year U.S. defense
   assistance package for Israel and the ongoing fight against Islamic
   State jihadists in the Middle East.


   ''Biden began his trip Monday in the United Arab Emirates, where he
   visited U.S. airmen stationed at the Al-Dhafra Air Base and pledged the
   United States would "squeeze the heart" out of Islamic State and
   destroy it.

   He dismissed Islamic State insurgents as "criminals and cowards."

   In an interview with the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Biden
   pressed the U.S. case for a negotiated peace settlement to end the
   five-year civil war in Syria, ruling out a military solution.  Peace
   talks are set to resume again later this week in Geneva as a truce has
   sharply curtailed fighting in recent days.

   "A political solution between the parties is the only way to end the
   violence and give the Syrian people the chance they deserve to rebuild
   their country," Biden said. "To create a credible, inclusive and
   non-sectarian system, a new constitution and free and fair elections."

   ''Biden also discussed the fight against Islamic State with Abu Dhabi's
   crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as efforts
   to resolve conflicts in Yemen and Libya.  He thanked the UAE for its
   humanitarian contributions in both Syria and Iraq.

   UAE forces have been taking part in airstrikes against Islamic State
   targets in Syria as part of a U.S.-led coalition.

   Biden's trip is scheduled to include a meeting with Palestinian
   President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday in the West Bank and Jordan's King
   Abdullah II in Amman on Thursday.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/biden-tel-aviv/3226022.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/biden-tel-aviv/3226022.html