Obama, where art thou?

The red carpet has been laid out, the security coordinated, and the itinerary double-checked. Now all that remains is for President Obama to arrive in Israel. With not a lot to report on until he arrives, the Israel press lays out its own red carpet in the form of many, many editorials about the visit.

Yedioth Ahronoth’s front page has hopes of being read by the president himself as the headline and editorial are written in both Hebrew and English. “Welcome,” reads the headline and the editorial, “In hope, in faith,” lays out a very warm welcome for the president. Eitan Haber heaps praise on the United States and its president: “You, the great America, facilitated our rise, from the ashes of the Holocaust, to the establishment of a state.” He concludes the piece by quoting scripture and asking God to bless Obama and the United States.

Haber’s colleague Alex Fishman has a less enthusiastic piece about the prospects for peace. Fishman emphasizes that the Obama administration has stated that the president has little to no expectation of movement on the peace process in the coming two years but John Kerry has brought a “new/old surprise with him: the Saudi peace plan.” That plan, which calls for a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders for exchange for full normalization of the Arab world with Israel, had been previously rejected by Israel, and is now being put on the table for an option to start peace talks.

Yedioth also provides an hourly itinerary and small map of all the roads closing because of Obama’s visit. Most of the affected roads are in and around Jerusalem but the one that could cause a lot of headaches is Wednesday’s closing of the No. 1 highway, which will be closed for a number of hours starting at noon.

Haaretz’s front-page headline is not as welcoming as Yedioth’s, instead going for the factual, “American President Obama to arrive in Israel today.” Among the five opinion pieces in its coverage, Ari Shavit writes that Obama’s visit “is the beginning of a new project” to woo back Israelis. Shavit writes that Obama lost Israelis’ trust early in his administration by going to Cairo but not Jerusalem, asking for a cessation of settlement activity, and having differences  of opinion on Iran. However, Shavit feels that the tide is turning. “Slowly but surely Israelis have understand that Obama is not against them and is actually for them. They have begun to see that the man who sits in the White House is a true friend who is seeking to save Israel from its enemies — and from itself.”

Over at Israel Hayom, the paper takes a wait-and-see approach to the Obama visit with its headline, “Waiting for the speech.” The paper is referring to the speech Obama is set to give Thursday evening in Jerusalem to 1,000 students at the Jerusalem International Convention Center.

Dan Margalit writes in an opinion piece aimed at Obama, “Welcome, but there are still deep differences.” Margalit writes that the goal of Obama’s visit is to improve public relations and to offer reassurances that the bond between America and Israel is strong, but there are disagreements over the Palestinian issue, Iran and Syria. After listing the differences, Margalit concludes his piece by offering a greeting, “In the meantime, welcome President Obama.” 

While Israel Hayom may be withholding its enthusiasm, Maariv seems like the only paper that is downright grumpy about the visit. “Obama lands today in Israel, Pollard remains behind,” reads its front-page headline. Its main story focuses on a 1,000-strong rally (though Yedioth puts the figure at 2,000) that occurred Tuesday night in support of freeing Jonathan Pollard, the American who was convicted of spying for Israel. The paper reports that Shimon Peres will present Obama a petition signed by over two hundred thousand people urging the release of Pollard.

Maariv’s Nadav Eyal in a more upbeat piece reminds readers that Obama is no tourist and his visit has a real purpose: to restore faith. In just a few sentences, Eyal summarizes the situation. “The president came to the conclusion that leaders did not have enough courage [to make a deal], and the parties felt that he tried and disappeared. In the administration they understood the need to reestablish the bond between Washington and Jerusalem. Thus Obama is here.”

Non-Obama news

Obama is the main story, but he’s not the only story. All the papers give a bit of front-page space to a report that chemical weapons were used in Syria for the first time. Haaretz reports both the Syrian government and the rebels blaming each other for the attack. The paper points out the obvious but important fact that if the reports are true, it would be the first time that chemical weapons have been used in the civil war.

The coalition negotiations have been concluded, the government sworn in, and Maariv reports on the final piece of the puzzle: the changing of the guard. The paper has a photo spread of all the outgoing ministers halfheartedly smiling while shaking the hand of their replacements. Maariv concedes in its headline that there wasn’t much news in the photo-ops, that it was more of the same: “New ministers, old promises.”