U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Israel Monday for a 36-hour visit, during which she will meet with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Arriving in Israel after attending a donors’ summit in Egypt, where world nations pledged donations to help rebuild the Gaza Strip, Clinton was expected to meet with senior Israeli officials on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the formulation of a cease-fire agreement with Hamas.

This is Clinton’s first trip to Israel in her new capacity as secretary of state, and is characterized as a familiarization trip aimed mainly at listening to the top echelon of Israel’s government. The reason behind the passive nature of the trip is the fact that the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama has yet to formulate clear policy guidelines regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Clinton is expected to brief Israel’s leadership on her experience at the donors’ summit in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier Monday, during which she met with several Arab leaders, such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The secretary of state is scheduled to meet with President Shimon Peres early Tuesday, after which she will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and lay a wreath. At noon, Clinton is scheduled to meet with her Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and the two will hold a joint press conference. Clinton is also expected to meet with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who requested the meeting, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Tuesday evening, Clinton will dine with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and on Wednesday, she is expected to travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount