Tight security ahead of Obama visit to Israel Museum

Preamble: US President Barack Obama is preparing to visit the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book to view the Dead Sea Scrolls before heading off to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Though the museum tour won’t take place until 9 a.m., by 6:30 in the morning, the route between the King David Hotel and the museum was already packed with hundreds of police awaiting the motorcade.

In Ramallah, Obama will likely face a tougher crowd than in Jerusalem, meeting with a simmering Palestinian Authority, frustrated by a seemingly intractable stagnation in the peace process, and on the verge of bankruptcy. After that he’ll return to Israel for a key address to a mostly young crowd at the International Convention Center.

Read our earlier liveblog here, including Obama’s press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a tree scandal whose roots never quite took hold.