Netanyahu refuses US visit, won't interfere with primaries

Tel Aviv - He flew in from the United Arab Emirates as the rocky relationship between US President Barack Obama and Netanyahu took a fresh hit over the Israeli premier's decision not to accept an invitation for talks in Washington later this month.

The rocky relationship between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a fresh hit Tuesday over a declined White House invitation as Vice President Joe Biden arrived for talks.
Netanyahu's decision not to accept an invitation for talks with Obama in Washington later this month "surprised" the White House, which first learned of it through news reports.
The Israeli premier's office defended the decision by saying Netanyahu did not want to interfere in US presidential primary elections currently taking place.
Obama and Netanyahu have had a testy personal relationship, worsened by the Israeli premier's forceful opposition to the Iran nuclear deal, including in a speech to the US Congress.
But they have sought to set aside their disagreements in recent months and work out a new 10-year defence aid package for Israel as well as demonstrate that the ties between the two traditional allies remain strong.
Biden arrived in Tel Aviv late Tuesday afternoon and will hold talks with Netanyahu on Wednesday. He is also scheduled to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
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A previous visit by Biden in 2010 was marred by the announcement of a major Israeli settlement project in east Jerusalem.
The announcement drew a public scolding from Biden and it soured relations with Washington for months.
His visit this time comes with Obama having acknowledged that there will be no comprehensive agreement between Israelis and Palestinians before he leaves office in January 2017.
The White House has said that Biden will not be pursuing any major new peace initiatives during his visit, even though a wave of violence since October has killed more than 200 people.
Talks are expected to include discussions on the 10-year defence aid package for Israel, currently worth some $3.1 billion annually in addition to spending on projects such as missile defence, illustrating the importance of Israel's relationship with the United States.
Biden and Netanyahu also plan to talk about the fight against Daesh.
But while Obama has resigned himself to not achieving any major breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there have been suggestions he may seek to somehow kickstart peace efforts at a complete standstill for two years.
That has included speculation that the United States could break with traditional practice and support a UN resolution related to resolving the conflict, which Israel strongly opposes.
The United States has traditionally vetoed resolutions at the UN Security Council opposed by Israel.
"They are worried in Jerusalem that between the time of the election in November and the time that the actual president begins his term of office in January... President Obama might do certain things that the PM won't like," Jonathan Rynhold of Israel's Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies told AFP.