American President Barack Obama has arrived in the Middle East on Air Force One for a three-day tour of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Making his first overseas tour since the start of his second term in office, Obama is due to continue on to neighbouring Jordan on Friday.
He was met at Tel Aviv airport by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres after Air Force One stopped next to a huge red carpet laid out down the tarmac.
After the countries' respective national anthems were played Israeli President Shimon Peres said: "A world without America's leadership, without her moral voice, would be a darker world. A world without your friendship, would invite aggression against Israel."
Mr Obama called the US Israel's "strongest ally and your greatest friend."
Mr Obama will hold lengthy talks with Mr Netanyahu later in the day, with the two set to hold a news conference at 8.10pm local time (18.10 GMT).
He will travel to the occupied West Bank on Thursday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
According to Israeli commentators, Obama and Netanyahu 'dislike each other' US officials say Mr Obama will try to coax the Palestinians and Israelis back to peace talks.
He will also seek to reassure Mr Netanyahu he is committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and discuss ways of containing Syria's civil war.
However, the White House has deliberately minimised hopes of any major breakthroughs, a reversal from Obama's first four years in office when aides said he would visit the Jewish state only if he had something concrete to accomplish.
Analysts say some of the lack of earlier diplomatic results, has been down to their relationship between the Democrat president and right wing prime minister.
"To tell the truth, they can't stand one another," a commentator for Israel's Channel 10 television said in a live broadcast from the airport as Air Force One came to a halt.
Mr Obama president will inspect an Iron Dome anti-missile battery at Tel Aviv airport before flying up to Jerusalem by helicopter for the start of his official meetings.
Seeking to connect directly with an often sceptical Israeli public, the president will make a speech to a group of carefully screened students on Thursday afternoon where he is expected to touch on major topics of concern, including Iran.
US officials say Obama, the fifth sitting U.S. president to travel to Israel, will urge further patience, with Washington worried that a threatened Israeli unilateral strike might drag the United States into another Middle East war.
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank protested against Obama's visit Mr Obama will then fly to the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet Mr Abbas and is expected to encourage the restart of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians which broke down in 2010.
In Ramallah on Tuesday, Palestinian police scuffled with scores of demonstrators protesting against Obama's visit.
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