WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely experience tension in their talks here next week but it is far too early for any US-Israeli crisis, analysts said.
In their first meeting since Obama took office in January and Netanyahu came to power in February the pair will likely disagree on how to tackle the perceived nuclear threat from Iran and peace talks with the Palestinians, analysts said.
Netanyahu wants to deal with Iran first as he thinks the Palestinians are not ready for statehood. Obama wants to link progress on negotiations for a future Palestinian state partly as a way to line up Arab states against Iran.
However, for Aaron David Miller, who has served both past Republican and Democratic administrations, the stakes are still too low for a showdown when the pair meet May 18 at the White House.
Israel, he said, can give the Obama administration at least a little time to engage with Iran in a bid to halt uranium enrichment; the United States still has neither ongoing talks nor a pending peace deal for Netanyahu to block.