Israeli president Shimon Peres will meet US president Barack Obama in Washington next week, the Israeli leader's office said tonight.
The meeting will come during Mr Peres's visit to the United States to take part in a summit held by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group, the Israeli president's office said in a statement.
Mr Peres, whose post is largely ceremonial, will be the first Israeli statesman to meet Mr Obama since the inauguration last month of the right-leaning government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Netanyahu, who risks friction with the Obama administration over peacemaking with Palestinians, will meet the American president next month.
Mr Obama has said reviving stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with the goal of establishing a Palestinian state is a top priority for his administration.
But Mr Netanyahu has so far refused to commit himself to Palestinian statehood in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.