Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will hold talks today during his first visit to Washington on policy toward the Palestinians and the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Mr Olmert's meeting with US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld will provide an opportunity to exchange assessments about Tehran's uranium enrichment programme, which both the United States and Israel fear could lead to a nuclear-armed Iran.
Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has said it wants to take a back seat in international diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian crisis but views seriously Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for its destruction.
Mr Olmert had dinner last night with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to prepare for his first meeting with President Bush.
No major decisions are expected. Mr Olmert's "convergence" proposal to reshape the Jewish settlement map in the occupied West Bank is still largely on the drawing board.
Senior US officials said Mr Bush will be hesitant to embrace Mr Olmert's ideas until he is convinced that what he proposes will not prejudice the outcome of eventual final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Under his West Bank plan, Mr Olmert intends, in the absence of a Palestinian peace partner, to remove isolated Israeli settlements in the territory, bolster major enclaves Israel says it intends to keep forever and set a border by 2010
Mr Olmert has said he prefers a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians but peace hopes have dimmed since the Islamic militant group Hamas came to power in March.