President Donald Trump hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ahead of unveiling a "peace plan" already flatly rejected by the Palestinians -- but providing both leaders welcome distraction from their respective political crises.
The White House meeting with Netanyahu and, separately, with his arch rival Benny Gantz, thrusts Trump right into Israel's tense election scheduled in just over a month.
Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party are polling neck-and-neck.
An Oval Office sitdown with Trump and a second session on Tuesday, when the two men are expected to roll out the peace plan, will reinforce Netanyahu's message that he has the US president's ear.
It will also boost his standing while he fights a mounting corruption scandal.
Despite signs that the White House peace plan is dead on arrival, Netanyahu is talking it up as the "deal of the century." For Trump, the two days of meetings should cement support among right-wing Christian evangelicals -- a key part of his base in the November presidential election -- just as his Senate impeachment trial climaxes.
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Trump has already thrown Netanyahu a string of political presents.
These include breaking with international diplomatic consensus to recognise the disputed city of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which were seized from neighbouring Syria, and ending opposition to Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
This time, he'll be presenting a peace plan that critics say will heavily favor the Israeli side in the conflict with the Palestinians.
The Palestinians say they were never included in the plan's crafting and have rejected it in advance. The fact that they are not invited to the White House this week appears to underline their point.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Monday urged international powers to boycott the plan, which he said was designed "to protect Trump from impeachment and protect Netanyahu from prison".
"It is not a Middle East peace plan," Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting. "This plan gives Israel sovereignty over Palestinian territory."
Netanyahu said before leaving for Washington that he was "full of hope that we can make history." Gantz is also enthusiastic, saying the plan will "go down in history," allowing "different players in the Middle East to finally move ahead towards an historic regional agreement."
"Trump's plan is the plot of the century to liquidate the Palestinian cause."
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